Corporate directors downplay ESG issues, defying investors

Talk about a disconcerting disconnect. The investor community is putting more pressure than ever on companies to consider environmental, social and governance issues in strategic decisions — everything from climate change to diversity — but that message is falling flat in some boardrooms.

Here’s the stark reality. Close to 39 percent of directors responding to advisory firm PwC’s annual survey of this community said that climate change shouldn’t be taken into account when forming corporate strategy, and roughly 30 percent think shareholders pay too much attention to this topic.