Emergent Risks.

In the era where one’s climate action can be taken to court in some other part of the world, reporting and disclosing ESG information is imbued with a certain legal valency. The terrain is moving to the law firms as technical professionals are being hired to advise on the science. Hybrid lawyers plus scientists is the new combination to understand emergent risks in the BHR and Climate domains.

ESG is thus an regular business risk, albeit non financial however carbon data is as mainstream as financial data. As financial information has not stopped fraud so will increasingly vibrant climate data will not cease green washing. Assurance will be a prerequisite for ESG data, as BRSR regime in India has shown.

We should not conflate disclosure for climate action, as innovation for climate action is a moon shot and a society as a whole issue. ESG at its heart is trust and transparency play in line with the zeitgeist towards responsible capitalism.