NED Event: Sustainability and Business: What is the Role of the Board and how can Actuaries, as NEDs

As actuaries we have always been focused on long term risk management. The best board practitioners are increasingly viewing the long term sustainability of the company, the society in which it operates and our planet as essential considerations in corporate governance structures. Our next session will seek to explore both modern thinking on how sustainability fits the governance agenda and how we, as actuaries, can contribute to and enhance that agenda.

The speakers will explore the subject under four broad headings:

Environmental: We are all familiar with the environmental challenges, but what can the well-functioning board in service industries contribute?

Social - the FCA has used the language of product safety for some time and the board must of course ensure that, but sustainability is about diversity, community relations and corporate philanthropy as well- how can a board monitor and encourage that agenda?

Board governance - reporting and disclosure, board accountability and executive compensation are all key factors in creating the durable and sustainable corporation. The enhanced corporate governance code takes into much more sophisticated analysis of 'going concern' and uses the words "significantly longer than 12 months" Surely the "tone from the top- the Board" must look beyond the working lifetimes of the executive and ensure the business is robust in the very long term.

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing is rapidly increasing in importance- what are the parameters that investment managers look out for and monitor.