You’re already doing it.
Now report it.
FinComm Services helps companies meet investors’ growing need for ESG information.
Got questions about ESG reporting to investors?
Are you...
?
- Getting questions from investors about your environmental, social, or governance (ESG) issues?
- Seeing your peers increasing their ESG disclosures?
- Discovering ESG ratings out there assessing your performance - incorrectly?
- Wondering what all the fuss around ESG issues is about?
Then it's time to start working together on a strong, standards-based ESG-reporting game plan. No step change required. The important thing is to start.
“ Investors are increasingly adopting the practice of integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in their analysis and decision-making process, to reduce risks and improve returns.
Financially material ESG issues are business issues that are critical to your business and your long-term success. What’s new is not that they are important to your business, it’s that capital market participants are now explicitly paying attention to them, and their information needs are growing as a result. ”
-Marie-Josée Privyk, CFA, RIPC, SASB-FSA Credential holder
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The FinComm Value Proposition
Providing a strong, standards-based ESG-reporting game plan. No step change required.
My Services
Using internationally recognized standards and reporting methods, I help Boards and C-suite executives:
My Approach
I will work with you on giving your company an ESG-reporting game plan that will be based on three pillars.
The Output
The output of this approach is a cost-effective course of action to provide decision-useful ESG reporting to investors.
You can have a plan in place within 30 days, that will have you reporting on your ESG issues within six months.
The Outcome
A stronger reputation, lower risk profile, and higher market value.
The SASBTM sustainability disclosure standards
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board has developed industry-specific disclosure standards across environmental, social, and governance topics that facilitate communication to investors of financially material, decision-useful information.
The TCFD financial disclosures recommendations
The global Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures has provided recommendations for voluntary, consistent [climate-related] financial risk disclosures for companies to use when providing information to investors, lenders, insurers and other stakeholders.
Your existing internal systems and processes
My approach requires no step-change and it does not involve a huge ramp-up time. It leverages the systems and processes that you currently have in place, namely those related to governance, risk management, and reporting.
1
Identify your financially material ESG issues
Material ESG issues are business issues that can affect your operating and financial performance, risk profile, and future prospects. They are specific to each sector, and ultimately to each company.
Most companies have 5 to 6 material ESG issues.
2
Determine what to report
Investors are looking for decision-useful information pertaining to the governance oversight, the management approach, and the actual performance (think metrics) of each material issue.
Decision-useful information is consistent, comparable, balanced, reliable, and timely.
3
Determine where to report it
Information that is intended for investors should be located where they can easily find it. Fortunately, as their needs grow, investors are expanding their sources of decision-useful ESG information.
There are many ways to provide ESG information to investors. The important thing is to start.
About ESG
What is ESG?
We call ESG issues the business issues that also happen to be characterized as environmental, social, or governance issues.
ESG issues are business issues. Here are some examples:
How does ESG reporting create value for companies?
Investors are increasingly adopting the practice of integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in their analysis and decision-making process.
Why? Because a better understanding ESG issues helps them make better investment decisions, reduce risks, and improve returns.
As a result, they are seeking consistent, comparable, reliable, timely, and measurable information about ESG issues that are financially material to companies’ risk profile, operating performance, and long-term prospects.
They incorporate this information into their financial forecasts, discount rates, and valuation multiples for companies.
Is this new?
Yes and no.
The fact that companies must manage their material business issues – including their ESG issues – not only to survive, but to thrive is not new. Companies that are doing well are managing their material ESG issues well, they just may not be calling them that. They aren’t reporting on them because until recently, no one was asking. They were just part of ‘good management’.
What is new, is that investors are explicitly considering these issues when making capital allocation decisions… and they are wanting much more information as a result.
ESG integration is part of responsible investment practices, which have gained significant momentum in recent years, and are fast becoming mainstream. In Canada, 79% of institutional investors now have a responsible investment policy, according to the Responsible Investment Association. And across the world, there are now more than 2,900 signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI).
Environmental
Energy efficiency, water usage, waste management.
Social
Employee health and safety, talent attraction and retention, pay equity.
Governance
Climate change, culture and ethics, cybersecurity.
The Risks of Inaction
Reputational damage
- Lack of information often leads to loss of trust in the Board and C-Suite
- The company is perceived as more risky, less prosperous, or less competitive
Higher risk profile
- Greater uncertainty is created by the absence of information
- This may lead to disclosure liability risk down the road
Lower market value
- Higher risk profile means higher cost of capital
- Higher risk and less visibility on prospects mean lower forecasts
- Either or both mean lower multiples
About Me
Marie-Josée Privyk, CFA, RIPC, SASB-FSA Credential holder
I am passionate about fulfilling my mission of helping companies improve their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting to meet investors’ growing information needs and reap the benefits of better performance, better access to capital, and higher valuation.
I have built a career in capital markets – from sell-side analyst and head of research to director of investor relations and sustainable development for a publicly listed company, and to ESG integration consultant – which uniquely positions me, I believe, at the nexus of companies and investors.
- B.Comm. in Finance from McGill University
- Certificate in Applied Communications from Université de Montréal
- CFA Charter Holder
- SASB FSA Credential Holder (Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting)
-RIA RIPC designation (Responsible Investment Professional Certification)
- PRI Academy Advanced Responsible Investment Analysis
For me, money is not an end in itself, but an essential tool for development and a powerful lever. I aspire to contribute to a better world by leveraging that power to direct capital flows towards companies and projects that earn market-rate returns and generate positive environmental and social impacts.
Thought leadership
ESG Webinar: One Small Step for ESG
September 2019
A lively discussion on materiality assessments in the context of sustainaibility practices and reporting. With Marie-Josée Privyk, ESG Advisor, FinComm Services, Anne-Josée Laquerre, President and Co-founder, Québec Net Positive, and Charles David Mathieu-Poulin, Corporate Advisor, Environment and Sustainability, Transcontinental.
ESG Webinar: How can listed companies meet growing investor information needs?
September 2018
Le Québec sobre en carbone - des débouchés pour les entreprises du Québec - Investissement responsable et produits financiers
November 2018
For goods and services industries that are sensitive about the carbon footprint of their production, there is significant economic and financial potential. Quebec companies have every reason to invest in capturing their share of the low carbon economy. By making the shift towards sustainable finance, institutions will be there to provide the necessary capital.
Changements climatiques : entreprises, faites-vous partie du problème ou de la solution ? (French only)
October 2019
Companies fall into one of three categories: those with high GHG emissions that may be part of the problem, those that neither generate nor reduce GHG emissions, and those whose activities contribute to reducing or eliminating GHG emissions that may be part of the solution.
What are your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) business issues?
July 2019
My contributions to ESG and ESG reporting to investors
Other notable references on ESG and ESG reporting to investors
More than values: The value-based sustainability reporting that investors want
McKinsey & Company - July 2019
"Nonfinancial reports helped stimulate the growth of sustainable investing. Now investors are questioning current reporting practices—and calling for changes that executives and board members must understand."
Can We Talk? Changing the Sustainability Conversation Between Investors and Companies
Mindy S. Lubber
CERES - February 7, 2019
“As investors increasingly come to grips with the challenging realities, risks and opportunities of a changing climate, resource depletion and human rights, we need to change the ways companies talk with them about these issues. While it’s true that environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are finally being woven into the strategies of many leading companies across the globe, the ways they engage investors on these concerns too often miss the mark.”
