Attracting Sustainable Investment: PR Newswire Event Convenes European Experts on Environmental and Social Corporate Governance

Chairing the discussion was Michel Laviale, president of the Finance club of ORSE and former Quality Director in charge of sustainable development at Société Générale. Panellists included:

• Alexandre Marty, Senior Investor Relations Manager, EDF
• Stéphane Voisin, Head of Sustainability Research & Responsible Investment, Kepler Cheuvreux
• Emilie Béral, SRI Research director, Vigeo
• Richard Vallantin, Responsible video, AFP-Services

Mr Marty shared his experience of EDF’s ongoing sustainability commitments, as well as their application to projects such as the building of a hydropower plant in Nam Theun (Laos), supported by the World Bank. For EDF, a strong ESG strategy is mandatory and is evidenced by the fact that the head of Sustainable Development reports directly to the newly appointed head of Strategy, Innovation and Planning Division, a member of the executive board. For the Investor Relations team, ESG policy and credentials are now key issues of engagement, not only with responsible investors, but increasingly with mainstream investors.

Mr Voisin stressed that the adoption of a strong ESG programme can be a tool to enhance financial results, delivering value to all stakeholders, particularly shareholders. Companies are naturally concerned about cost reduction, and Mr Voisin believes that sustainable development is a green and investor-friendly way to achieve this goal. “Rating agencies receive more and more requests from investors wanting analysis of how companies handle controversy” he stated. “Companies should focus on a more consistent, coherent communication strategy that gathers all the strategic threads along with ESG and sustainable development”

Speaking an ESG expert who works at a ratings agency specialising in extra-financial analysis, Ms. Béral observed that the quality of ESG information distributed by all types of companies has increased in recent times. “The evolution is visible through reporting: between 2007 and 2014, all companies have increased their communication on ESG themes. European companies remain the leaders in terms of transparency on ESG challenges. Strong evolution has been observed on information disclosed on environment issues over the past years. This is a sign of maturity as far are those subjects are concerned.”

Picking up on the theme of communication, Mr Valantin commented that companies were increasingly recognising the value of multimedia – and in particular video – as a powerful means of communicating their ESG message. “ESG strategies can be understood by a large audience if companies think on how to better communicate them. A ‘universal video’ does not exist. It is extremely important to identify the audience and adapt the video to that audience.”

“The days when a sustainability program was seen as a costly inconvenience are firmly behind us” said Lisa Ashworth, President, EMEA & India, PR Newswire. “Over half of all professionally managed assets in Europe now practice an ESG strategy, and as we heard at tonight’s event, a strong SRI focus can recognise cost savings, attract new investors and, indeed, add tangible value. PR Newswire is delighted to help spotlight this topic”

PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.co.uk) is the leading global provider of PR and corporate communications tools that enable clients to distribute news and rich content across traditional, digital and social media channels in real time with full actionable reporting and monitoring.

Producing, optimising and targeting news and content across the world’s largest multichannel distribution network and offering the most accurate and frequently updated opted in journalist databases for over 60 years PR Newswire has a truly global reach serving clients across EMEA, India, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. PR Newswire is part of UBM plc.

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