Fossil-fuel lobbyists at COP27 prove that ESG executives must pay more attention to governance, declares climate commentator Chris Caldwell of United Renewables

DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Dec. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are not yet being treated with equal weight by business, which is holding back progress on climate change, announced cleantech entrepreneur Chris Caldwell in an article published today (‘The wobbly stool of ESG: what does governance have to do with climate change anyway?’).

The presence of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP 27 is a ‘monumental failure of governance’ by governments and corporations alike, and demonstrates that current ESG efforts treat governance as ‘a poor relation.’ Caldwell made clear his assessment that ‘this bias is self-defeating,’ as weaker efforts around governance within ESG frameworks were directly hindering progress on environmental measures, despite the latter receiving the majority of attention from investors and executives alike.

Oil executives accredited by national delegations at COP27

636 fossil fuel representatives received invitations to COP27 this year, a 25% increase over the numbers at COP26 according to research from organisations Global Witness and Corporate Accountability. They outnumber the total numbers of delegates from the ten most climate-effected countries combined, in part because of their accreditation within the national delegations of 27 countries, from Russia to sub-Saharan African nations. This is despite fossil firms’ historic track records of opposing strong climate action and funding climate denial.

ESG investment wave brings wider debate 

Chris Caldwell, founder and CEO of green energy firm United Renewables, made his analysis as host of the environmental podcast Conversations on Climate, following an interview with an ESG executive at a FTSE 100 firm. With over two decades experience in clean technology businesses which have ridden the wave interest in ESG investment, his comments will add further weight to the ongoing debate around the priorities and effectiveness of ESG as a business and investment framework.

Conversations on Climate brings world-leading thinkers from business and academia together to share their expertise on the subject of climate change. Previous guests include Sir Andrew Likierman, Julio Dal Poz, Professor Jean-Pierre Benoît, Professor Ioannou and Tara Schmidt.

All previous episodes can be found here. Related articles can be found here.

CONTACT Isabella Hawke – Sales and Marketing Consultant
COMPANY United Renewables
PHONE +447624457139
EMAIL  [email protected]
WEB unitedrenewables.co.uk/resources

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/857d2129-2e0f-4e25-9333-1ab9671482b7