A Need to Rethink ESG? Global Perspectives

SYNOPSIS

It is uncontroversial that ESG is a global phenomenon. In the West, East, North, and South, it is at the centre of corporate governance reforms, which aim to address the world’s most pressing problems. Trillions of dollars of capital have flowed into ESG-linked investments around the world. Despite this embrace of ESG globally, there is less scrutiny of the ESG movement than one may expect. 

This seminar aims to drill down into several key developments in the ESG movement from multiple perspectives in different areas of the world. Jesse Fried (Harvard Law School) will explain how ESG in the United States has become increasingly costly to shareholders, by distracting regulators, boards, and asset managers from their core functions. Dan Puchniak (Yong Pung How School of Law) will explain how the emerging focus of new stewardship codes on ESG is more likely to create false hopes than real change in corporate governance in Asia and globally. Hao Liang (Lee Kong Chian School of Business) will present major theoretical models and empirical evidence from various literature (finance, accounting, management, and economics) on how ESG activities are related to stock return, corporate operating performance, firm value, and the welfare of society at large.

The seminar will conclude with a discussion among the speakers and a Q&A session to illuminate whether there is a need to rethink ESG. 

PROGRAMME

SPEAKERS

Professor Jesse FRIED
Harvard Law School

Jesse M. Fried is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). His well-known book Pay without Performance: the Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation, co-authored with Lucian Bebchuk, has been widely acclaimed by both academics and practitioners and translated into Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian. Fried has served as a consultant and expert witness in litigation in Asia and in the United States involving corporate and securities law issues. He also serves on the Research Advisory Council of proxy advisor Glass, Lewis & Co.

Associate Professor Hao LIANG
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Singapore Management University

Hao Liang is an Associate Professor of Finance and the Co-Director of Singapore Green Finance Centre at Singapore Management University (SMU), where he also held the BNP Paribas Fellowship, DBS Sustainability Fellowship, and Lee Kong Chian Fellowship. He is an ECGI Research Member and an extramural fellow of Tilburg University. He also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, the Scientific Committee of Geneva Centre for Philanthropy, and the Technical Committee for Sustainable Finance of Enterprise Singapore. 

Professor Dan W. PUCHNIAK
Yong Pung How School of Law
Singapore Management University

Dan W. Puchniak is a Professor in the Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL) at SMU, an ECGI Research Member and the Director of the YPHSL Centre for Commercial Law in Asia. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of comparative corporate law and governance, with a focus on Asia. Dan has held visiting academic positions at leading universities around the world, advised international organizations on the development of corporate law in Asia, and served as an expert in high stakes complex corporate law disputes in Asia.