ESG Insights: Silicon Valley’s Largest Public Tech and Life Sciences Companies Stepped Up ESG Reporting Last Year

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns and how companies respond to them continue to generate scrutiny from a large number of stakeholders. Last year, in our ESG in Silicon Valley: A Look at the ESG Disclosure Practices of the SV 150 we examined how technology and life sciences companies were responding to the growing interest in ESG and related disclosure by looking at the voluntary ESG reporting practices of the companies included in the 2022 Fenwick-Bloomberg Law SV 150 List (SV 150) – based on their disclosures in the 2021 proxy season.

This report builds on that analysis by looking at the ESG reporting for SV 150 companies based on proxy statements filed during the 2022 proxy season, which generally covers the period between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, and other publicly available information.

Key Takeaways

• The number of SV 150 companies disclosing ESG information and the comprehensiveness of such disclosures increased in 2022.
• Although ESG reporting has not been mandated, most companies have opted to provide some level of disclosure in response to stakeholder demands and in anticipation of likely mandated disclosures by the SEC.
• Areas most frequently disclosed include: environmental issues, human capital resources, diversity, supply chains, customers and products, community impact and governance.
• The quality of ESG disclosure varied by size of company, with the larger SV 150 companies generally providing more comprehensive disclosure, including quantitative metrics.
• Technology and life sciences companies contemplating whether to voluntarily disclose ESG information or expand their disclosure should consider these trends and the types of information disclosed, to better assess their preparedness for ESG disclosure and meeting the demands of investors and other stakeholders.

Download the full report here.

This report was also published by Insights.