The continued rise in the importance of ESG-related matters to both corporate identity and investment decision-making means greater attention has to be paid to how companies engage with the investment community on ESG issues. This report examines how companies interact with investors on ESG matters, which issues are most commonly discussed and how frequently these discussions take place. We also assess the relevance of ESG ratings, the perceived benefits of ESG disclosure and the overall importance of ESG to investment decisions. The first section of this report analyses the results of a survey of investor relations (IR) practitioners conducted in Q1 2019 by Corporate Secretary sister publication IR Magazine, while the second section’s findings are taken from an IR Magazine Q4 2018 study of investors. The third section is a Q&A on ESG and investment stewardship. The final section of this report examines the views and practices of corporate governance professionals. Taken from a survey conducted by Corporate Secretary in Q2 2019, the findings here can differ from the experiences of IR practitioners and offer an alternative perspective of investor engagement on ESG issues. Survey results in this report are broken down by region, job title and company market cap. The geographical regions we use are North America, Europe and Asia, while the investment community is divided into sell-side analysts, buy-side analysts and fund managers. The cap size definitions used for this report are as follows:
