mission et composition du conseil d’administration

Excellent travail de l’Institut français des administrateurs (IFA) qui vient de publier un rapport ô combien intéressant : « Le conseil d’administration et l’information extra-financière« .

• Pour se le procurer : ici

Résumé :

Si l’information extra-financière a connu une formidable montée en puissance, elle demeure encore en pleine évolution, avec des contours revisités, et ce, dans un contexte où les attentes en interne à l’entreprise comme de la part des parties prenantes externes vont grandissantes. L’information extra-financière s’invite désormais dans tous les aspects de la vie de l’entreprise, et touche à autant d’enjeux qui sont au cœur des missions du Conseil. Ce document synthétise les tendances qui vont structurer l’information extra-financière dans les prochaines années, et sur cette base, formule des recommandations sur les diligences clés à effectuer par le Conseil. Enfin et surtout, ce rapport affiche l’ambition et les convictions de l’IFA quant au rôle déterminant de l’administrateur en matière d’information extra-financière.

À la prochaine…

Voilà une belle question abordée dans ce billet du Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance « What Board Members Need to Know about the “E” in ESG » (par Sheila M. Harvey, Reza S. Zarghamee et Jonathan M. Ocker, 9 juillet 2020) !

Extrait concernant les CA :

Board Responsibilities

Traditionally, a company’s board will manage corporate governance risks and executive compensation. The practical need to expand these responsibilities to account for environmental stewardship and risk management is a relatively new phenomenon, and many boards are not yet up to speed.

The first step toward properly addressing environmental matters is for the board to collaborate with management to identify the different ways in which the company’s businesses and operations interface with environmental issues. The aim here is to think expansively. For purposes of ESG, environmental matters extend beyond regulatory compliance and impacts on natural resources to include concepts such as environmental justice, carbon footprints, supply chains and product stewardship.

Consistent with this approach, an equally broad realm of potential environmental risks also should be considered. These may include the potential to cause environmental contamination and natural resource damages, which may trigger not just cleanup liabilities but also disclosure requirements in financial statements. Also relevant is the potential for business operations to be disrupted by environmental factors such as climate change.

Once potential environmental risks are identified, assessments should be made regarding their materiality and the existence of standing corporate policies and procedures to address them. Where such policies are lacking, they should be developed and implemented. Moreover, determinations should be made about how the company will present itself to investors, regulators and society to adequately inform them of potential environmental risks, avoid reputational harm and increase long-term value.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and companies have different environmental profiles. Each will have to find its own way, but the board should make sure that management devotes the appropriate resources to addressing environmental matters, understands environmental disclosure requirements and standards and ranking systems, and takes a proactive approach to protecting the company’s reputation from an environmental standpoint.

This is a multifaceted paradigm that requires open lines of communication between management and the board at all times. Moreover, because not every board member can be an ESG expert, we recommend that the appropriate committee be tasked in its charter with spearheading the environmental risk area for the board.

Points à retenir :

• Corporate boards should partner with management to ensure appropriate and regular oversight of environmental issues critical to the long-term economic success and reputation of the company.
• Either the board or an authorized committee should receive briefings on environmental matters/risks that may jeopardize a company’s reputation and corrective action undertaken to address those risks.
• Management should monitor environmental disclosures and rankings of peer firms and consult with the board on how to improve their company’s standing relative to competing firms and in terms of stakeholder expectations.

À la prochaine…