‘What does ESG mean to Professional Services Firms?’

On 22 November 2022, Weightmans hosted and presented a Pro-Manchester event ‘What does ESG mean to Professional Services Firms?’

The event was real success and included delegates from various companies across Manchester who joined us for an interesting panel discussion chaired by Simon Colvin.  The panel was made up of Abhay Srivastava of Weightmans, Stephanie Beat of Certas and Adam Waller from PWC, with the panellists discussing their roles within their respective firms, what ESG means to them, the challenges they are facing and what they are looking for from their professional services advisors.

Common themes that arose were that companies need to ensure that colleagues at all levels are actively involved with wider firm initiatives as ESG requires radical thinking and fundamental changes both to businesses and society. The panel agreed that ESG is no longer a nice to have and instead is a must have especially when it comes to tenders and procurement, as well as investment decisions.

On the challenges side it was agreed that companies should be open about their ESG targets and transparent in updating their clients/ the public on progress made and whether set targets are being achieved. The panel discussed upskilling being a challenge, that levelling out understanding was important and that they valued partnerships with their advisors to provide bespoke services to ensure that companies are ahead of the game and do not only come to their advisers for advice following, for example, greenwashing incidents.

The panel agreed that there is a lot of information about ESG in the market and that a partnership with a firm that can help to break down any acronyms or information to ensure that the relevant points to that particular company are actioned accordingly and that change requires the engagement of those at the top – board rooms, shareholders and other key stakeholders.

Weightmans is a top 40 UK law firm with offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle.

For more information, please contact Simon Colvin or Joanne Williams to find out more about how Weightmans can support you with your ESG needs.