News & Views

Many ASX-listed firms are paying female executives 30-35% less than their male counterparts, and this gender pay gap impacts shareholder return, according to new research from the University of South Australia.

There are all sorts of benefits in having increased gender representation - different perspectives, women tend to be more risk averse than men, women are more willing to engage in corporate social responsibility activities." said Jill Gould, a co-researcher on the project.The study concludes that executive men more than women can hit at company returns. If a male executive is paid 2.6 times that of their female counterpart, every woman added to the team will lower the firm's annual return on assets by 2.2% READ MORE 

Clifford Chance's ESG board, spans a wide range of practice areas and sectors. It will be discussing how a new focus on the environment, social considerations and governance is driving change across businesses, who realise that a failure to address these issues can be detrimental both for their reputation and financially. Running from 4pm until 6pm on Wednesday 8 September, there’ll be an interactive panel discussion about key ESG themes to help students build their commercial awareness and understanding of the topic, followed by a Q&A led by students’ questions. REGISTER HERE 

Companies are increasingly setting net-zero goals to address climate change, but any meaningful and credible decarbonisation strategy must have smart energy use as its foundation. This to be taken seriously they must have energy efficiency at the core, argues Toby Morgan. We are now nearly two years into the Climate Decade, With COP26 on the horizon, and the release of the landmark IPCC report, it is clear that we must act now to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Energy efficiency is the low hanging fruit. READ MORE 

There are many signs that the climate change policies of customers, suppliers and governments will increasingly reduce the ability to climate laggards to operate . Recently Glasgow City Council published eligibility criteria for all organisations looking to book its civic spaces during the COP 26 conference. Large businesses are required to have either set science-based targets for reducing emissions, pledged to set science-based targets for reducing emissions or have joined the UN’s Race to Zero Campaign. READ MORE 

When a firm sets climate goals, how should it think about the footprint of employees, particularly in an increasingly “hybrid” working world? In this webinar, experts in employee engagement, behaviour change, Scope 3 emissions and new emerging offset options will discuss the future of the “net-zero employee.”

In this webcast, you’ll learn how to:

• Engage employees in sustainability and carbon mitigation efforts
• Equip employees with their own personalized footprint and action plan
• Incentivize employees with carbon offsets and pro-social rewards
• Communicate and report on how individual employee actions are driving collective impacts

REGISTER HERE 

COVID-19 has changed working conditions and lines have become blurred between home and work. With mental health particularly prevalent in lawyers amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Sharon Ponniah, a PwC health and wellbeing partner with a PhD in public health, shared her thoughts with Lawyer’s Weekly about the mental health risks within the legal profession, what more firms can do to support their employees and why it’s so important to implement initiatives now. “By designing the work to accommodate wellbeing needs like work-life balance, it can go hand in hand with the culture change to enable empowerment of lawyers, particularly those who are most vulnerable.” READ MORE 

Now is our once-in-a-lifetime chance to transform our economies and create sustainable, just and resilient systems. The urgency of understanding and addressing the climate crisis is accelerating as are the opportunities for firms to be a part of building a clean economy.

Join more than 10,000 leaders at the VERGE 21 Climate Tech event for four days of online insights from the private and public sectors, utilities, solution providers, investors and startups.

The seminar will explore systemic solutions to address the climate crisis through five key markets:

• clean energy,
• sustainable mobility,
• carbon removal,
• regenerative food systems and
• resilient infrastructure.

REGISTER HERE 

How exactly are businesses, universities and municipalities supposed to drive fast and furious carbon reduction goals while still reducing costs and ensuring more reliable backup power for their operations? Simply announcing corporate sustainability goals is one thing. But when it comes to achieving those goals, law firms often find themselves in a balancing act with three competing drivers: sustainability, affordability and resiliency. 

Learn about the steps firms need to take to achieve the coveted energy trifecta On Sept. 9, REGISTER HERE 

Art Simone is one of Australia’s best known and loved drag artists, and for this year’s Wear it Purple day, Pro Bono Australia discussed the challenges young LGBTIQ people are facing today and what being a Wear it Purple ambassador means to her. READ MORE 

The majority a law firm’s emissions and reduction opportunities sit outside of their own operations. Simply put, Scope 3 emissions refer to the indirect carbon emissions which occur from the goods and services we purchase. Any worthwhile climate change strategy needs understand and address these emissions. Take this online masterclass with Carbon Intelligence, and gain the information, inspiration and innovations you need to improve Scope 3 data analysis and ultimately minimise value chain emissions.REGISTER HERE