21/12/21

The 2020 Code stresses sustainable value creation. In particular, it is up to the board of directors to pursue such sustainable value creation by the company, by setting the company’s strategy, putting in place effective, responsible and ethical leadership and monitoring the company’s performance. Thus, the Code explicitly focuses on the long term, on responsible behaviour at all levels of the listed company and on taking into account the legitimate interests of stakeholders on an ongoing basis. More explicit expectations are also formulated in terms of diversity, talent development, succession planning, and the company's annual report on all non-financial matters.

For this reason, the Corporate Governance Committee supports the ESG working group's initiative to encourage the incorporation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into corporate and investment decision-making.

The ESG toolkit is a practical and educational guide for companies and their boards of directors, to assist them in non-financial reporting, in anticipation of future European legislative instruments. It includes:

• The explanatory note on sustainable value creation (Corporate Governance Committee)
• The ESG Guidelines for listed companies (Euronext)
• Overview of the ESG Regulatory Landscape (Cleary Gottlieb)
• Illustrative overview of core ESG KPIs (ESG working group)
• The testimonials of the companies Ageas and Umicore

Author : ESG working group (Euronext, Corporate Governance Committee, IBR-IRE, VBO FEB, representatives of the financial sector and of listed companies)

Click here to read the ESG toolkit