EY US leaders spoke at the International Well Building Institute/Humanity 2.0 this morning from the floor of the Nasdaq MarketSite as part of the live streamed discussion series “Putting H (Humanity and Health) into ESG”.  Setting standards, measuring them and incentivizing employees are all crucial steps explained Jennifer Leitsch, Managing Director of EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services.  She explored the “alphabet soup of standards and frameworks” that require some streamlining, especially in an era of emerging rules coming from regulatory authorities worldwide.   Moderator Stephen Brown, Senior Vice-President of Global Market Development at IWBI, touched on Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosure rules and European Union ESG corporate sustainability reporting requirements as examples of these new regimes. 

Leitsch called for more science-based targets to apply methodology of measuring but also consistency in actioning on strategies.  Data collection and analysis are indeed daunting Leitsh but it is important to get ahead of the regulations and the regulators.

Kyle Bolden, EY’s Segment Leader- Real Estate, Hospitality and Construction Sector spoke to the diversity, equity and inclusion aspects of ESG goals:  “We can all be DEI leaders,” he advised.  “The risk of not embracing a diverse and inclusive culture is to the loss of human capital.” 

Frank Giampietro, Chief Well-being Officer of EY US, concurred.  He spoke to the new titles that are proliferating in corporations in the US and around the world, including his own, that demonstrates corporate commitment to ESG goals.  After more than a decade in the space, he spoke to the importance of collective efforts to take care of each other in the workplace and to make it part of the corporate ethos.  A sign that there is a full commitment to making ESG a real thing and part of the corporate culture. 

Companies are increasingly adopting ESG strategies to attract and retain employees.  EY is such a company given that the average age of its employees is 26 year old.  And younger workers really value ESG goals and DEI efforts in particular.  “We must ensure that our employees trust us,” Bolden concluded, “and the best DEI strategy starts at the top at the C-suite.”