On June 21, Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell and former Chair of the SEC, took part in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business’ “Unpacking ESG” series. The three-part virtual event, hosted in partnership with the Financial Times, brought together global thought leaders to share their expert insights on some of the timeliest ESG topics today.
Jay spoke on the third panel of the series, where he was joined by Marianne Bertrand, Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth, and Damien Dwin, Founder and CEO of Lafayette Square. The discussion focused on ESG’s role in business and was moderated by Patrick Temple-West, Governance Reporter for the Financial Times.
During his remarks, Jay noted there has been substantial debate (and even conflict) around ESG in large part because it means widely different things to different people. On many issues considered “ESG” issues, Jay encouraged companies to draw a distinction between activities that were core to their business, such as understanding customer preferences and training employees, and activities that were not.