ESG and sustainability

Sustainability-related governance

Our governance team advise on the full range of corporate governance issues, from routine SEC reporting and disclosure obligations to strategy and execution for crisis management, litigation and activism scenarios.

The role of the board has evolved dramatically over the last decade as sustainability has become a priority across all areas of business, with good governance and a strong and transparent culture at the heart of a successful sustainable transformation.

The spotlight on sustainability business operations means corporate reputations face unpresented scrutiny, with organisations under pressure to look for purpose beyond maximising profit.

Freshfields’ global team helps public and private companies, senior management and boards of directors manage ESG risk and maximise opportunities, advising on both day-to-day matters and time-sensitive, event-driven challenges to embed sustainability throughout culture in a way that aligns with broader corporate strategy.

Client successes

Representing Sonoco, a US-based international provider of diversified consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and packaging supply chain services.

Our US-based corporate advisory and governance team has become a trusted advisor to Sonoco in recent years. Our work started with ongoing governance, disclosure and shareholder engagement matters, and has quickly expanded to encompass executive compensation matters (including on their internal restructuring), capital markets, finance and M&A matters.

Advising UK-based industrial Belron on comparative ESG advice in multiple jurisdictions, including in the US, UK and Europe.

The Freshfields team analysed ESG compliance with respect to disclosure standards (including TCFD, GRI and SASB standards), shareholder engagement, proxy advisory firm expectations and executive compensation matters, and looked at supply chain and human rights considerations and private and public company requirements in these jurisdictions.

Gathering the views of more than 2,500 individuals in the UK, US, Hong Kong, Germany and France in Whistleblowing 2020 to assess attitudes towards whistleblowing.

Whistleblowing 2020 was part of our ongoing review of whistleblowing culture, Freshfields having carried out more than 500 investigations over the past decade and conducted research to identify why things go wrong. Freshfields has identified 12 key factors, which we use as a flexible governance and risk framework to test clients’ values and culture.

Advising public companies of various sizes on routine SEC reporting and disclosure obligations, compensation and benefits programmes, stakeholder engagement and ESG trends and developments, and strategy and execution on crisis management, litigation and activism scenarios.

Advising private companies at varying stages of growth on devising size-and-stage-appropriate governance (including dual class and public benefit corporation matters), structuring compensation and benefits programmes, managing data governance and ethics, and transitioning from private to public.