Reliance Industries, Mahindra Group join global giants in committing to stakeholder capitalism metrics
Reliance Industries and Mahindra Group on Tuesday joined more than 50 global giants in committing to core stakeholder capitalism metrics — a set of environmental, social and governance (ESG) parameters and disclosures prepared by the World Economic Forum.
The global giants who have made this commitment include Accenture, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, EY, HEINEKEN, HP, HSBC Holdings, IBM, JLL, KPMG, Mastercard, McKinsey, Nestle, PayPal, PwC, Royal Dutch Shell, Royal Philips, Salesforce, Schneider Electric, Siemens, Sony, Total, UBS, Unilever, Yara International and Zurich Insurance Group.
Announcing the details during its online Davos Agenda Summit, the WEF said a total of 61 business leaders have so far committed to the core Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, which offer a core set of 31 universal, comparable disclosures focused on people, planet, prosperity and governance that companies can report on, regardless of industry or region.
The move signals that private sector leaders view environmental, social and governance factors as critical to the success and long-term viability of all businesses and a unified voice is gathering pace on a global solution for non-financial reporting, the WEF said.
The metrics are aimed at strengthening the ability of companies and investors to benchmark progress on sustainability matters, thereby improving decision-making and enhancing transparency and accountability regarding the shared and sustainable value companies create.
The business leaders and their organisations have committed to “reflect the core metrics in their reporting to investors and other stakeholders (such as annual report, sustainability report, proxy statements, or other materials) by reporting on the metrics most relevant to their business or briefly explaining why a different approach is more appropriate”.
They will also publicly support this work and encourage their business partners to do so and promote the further convergence of existing ESG standards, frameworks and principles to support progress towards a globally accepted solution for non-financial reporting on common ESG metrics.
In making these commitments, business leaders are signalling that ESG factors are increasingly critical to the success and long-term viability of all businesses, the WEF said.
“Stakeholder capitalism becomes now really mainstream,” WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said.
“The public commitments from companies to report not only on financial matters but also their ESG impacts are an important step towards a global economy that works for progress, people and the planet,” he added.
Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan said, “We have to deliver great returns for our shareholders and help drive progress on societys most important priorities.” The WEF, in collaboration with Bank of America, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, curated the set of 21 core and 34 expanded metrics over the past two years with the support of over 140 stakeholders.
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