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The FCA has established a new advisory committee to its board to work on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues, and as such, the board has appointed members to the committee.
The appointed members of the committee are Tom Gosling, executive fellow in the department of finance at London Business School, Catherine Howarth OBE, chief executive of ShareAction, Tim Mohin, former chief sustainability officer for Persefoni AI, Desiree Fixler, the founder of RYSN Consulting, Sonali Siriwardena, partner and global head of ESG at Simmons and Simmons, and Harald Walkate, senior fellow at the centre for Sustainable Finance & Private Wealth (CSP) at the University of Zurich.
The committee will also reportedly include the FCA’s chair, other non-executive directors and the director of ESG.
The new ESG committee and its newly-appointed members comes as the FCA agreed to establish a new ESG advisory committee earlier this year to help execute its ESG-related responsibilities, such as meeting the government’s expectation that the authority facilitates the UK achieving a net zero economy by 2050.
It is reported that the appointed committee will provide guidance to the board on relevant emerging ESG topics or issues and views on how the FCA should develop its ESG strategy in keeping with the organisation’s statutory objectives and regulatory principles.
According to the FCA, it has already delivered a “considerable” amount of work in line with the priorities set out in its ESG Strategy, which includes publishing proposals for measures aimed at clamping down on greenwashing, the formation of a group to develop a voluntary Code of Conduct for ESG data and ratings providers, its active monitoring of ESG-related business by firms and its review of climate disclosures by listed companies.
The FCA has also been an active participant in the government’s Transition Plan Taskforce, helping to develop a draft framework and guidance for the design of transition plans.
A spokesperson for the FCA said: “As our work continues to progress, the committee will support the board in executing oversight of ESG-related issues relevant to the FCA as a corporate entity and as a regulator.”
