Prof. Claire Hill Quoted in Forbes About ESG Reporting; Prof. June Carbone’s New Book Referenced

Professor Claire Hill was quoted in Forbes about the accuracy of companies reporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. Consumers and investors increasingly rely on companies’ claims about their ESG practices, but a new report sites that “diversity washing” is occurring with a disconnect between companies’ external commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and their actual underlying employee diversity. Professor June Carbone’s new book, Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy, noted the metrics used in ESG reporting need further unpacking. For example, the percentage of women in companies is meaningless without a breakdown that distinguishes the top executive ranks from entry level workers. Prof. Hill said, “while disclosure is clearly necessary and desirable, it is never a panacea. Companies will want to depict what they do in a way that makes them look good, but doesn't commit them to specific courses of action or statements of fact on the basis of which they could be sued.”