In recent years, growth in products marketed on the basis of their strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials has exploded. Due to the increasing awareness of the risks – and opportunities – presented by climate change, pressure from investors for responsible investments is growing at a steady rate and ESG has come to dominate the agenda at board level meetings and on investor calls.

Consequentially, more and more financial institutions are increasingly either selling directly or partnering with third parties to offer green products to customers – a trend that is generally welcomed in the context of climate change mitigation. However, what comes with this ‘gold rush’ of new green products, this clamor to seize upon a new opportunity, is the potential to misrepresent the true underlying nature of these green products. 

In this paper, we discuss the complex subject of conduct with climate change and how it is arguably one of the widest ranging thematic issues of our time.

Contact Charles Sincock (ESG Lead, UK), Olaf Clemens (Partner, Austria, Germany & Slovakia and Global ESG Lead) or Richard Lewis (Partner, UK) to find out more about our comprehensive, holistic approach to assessing and enhancing conduct risk agendas.