Tag: Aaron Nicodemus

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The ESG Report

How FedEx Approached ESG with Aaron Nicodemus


 
Tom Fox welcomes back Aaron Nicodemus to the ESG Report. Aaron is a writer at Compliance Week, a magazine that provides the latest information in the ethics, governance, risk, and compliance space. He primarily writes about regulatory policy and compliance trends. In this week’s show, he and Tom discuss Aaron’s new article series about FedEx’s journey on ESG. 
 

 
The Inspiration Behind The Articles on FedEx and Their ESG Journey
Justin Ross, CCO at FedEx, was dubbed the CCO of The Year at Compliance Week 2021. After he won the award, he and Aaron discussed the new efforts FedEx was venturing into. One of the initiatives that came up was FedEx’s environmental plan for the future. After extensive research, Aaron realized that “the extent of [FedEx’s] ESG initiatives went much further than I had realized”. This intrigued him and he decided to write the series based on his findings. 
 
How FedEx Plans to Manage ESG
Tom asks Aaron how a delivery company, that spends exorbitant amounts on fuel and vehicle maintenance, could reframe that into an ESG issue. Aaron replies that those were the first questions FedEx asked themselves when it conceptualized its environmental initiative. They decided to focus on reducing their emissions; that worked well alongside their fuel reduction initiative for a time. They determined that they could be more efficient with their jets, by ensuring that the engine does not idle more than necessary. However, as Aaron points out, emissions and fuel reduction are not a linear process, “Their biggest problem with their emissions is that because they’re growing so fast, they’re making more deliveries, they’re making more flights through the air, and they just have trouble keeping their emissions down because they’re expanding so fast.”  
 
Ebb and Flow of FedEx’s Environmental Initiative 
Aaron says, “One of the biggest touch points for FedEx with its ESG initiative is transparency.” He explains that they want stakeholders to understand their goals and the journey to get there so that when they have setbacks, they’re all accounted for. For example, FedEx has ordered over 20,000 electric cars, to reduce exhaust emissions into the environment but only received five of them. He adds that they had another goal to increase an alternative source of jet fuel but they were having an issue with supply, and they ended up having to postpone the idea several times. However, since they are in constant communication with their investors, employees, and customers, they can comfortably discuss their failures, how close they got to achieving them, and why they did or did not achieve them.
 
Resources
Aaron Nicodemus | LinkedIn | Twitter 
Compliance Week | Compliance Week Profile
 

Categories
The ESG Report

Compliance Must Carve Out Role in Company ESG Efforts with Aaron Nicodemus

 
Aaron Nicodemus has been a reporter for over 30 years in the US and South Africa, having written for various notable publications including Bloomberg. He has been a writer/reporter at Compliance Week for the last 18 months. He is Tom Fox’s guest this week on the ESG Report. They discuss his recent article about the intersection of ESG and compliance, entitled “Compliance Must Carve Out Role in Company ESG Efforts.”
 

 
Inside the Mind of the CCO Survey
“Every year for the past three years Compliance Week has conducted an Inside the Mind of the CCO survey,” Aaron tells Tom. This year the focus was on ESG since it has been a hot topic, and they wanted to gauge what ESG initiatives looked like across industries and organizations. “Almost all of the compliance officers who took the survey felt that compliance should be involved in ESG initiatives at their company,” Aaron reveals. CCOs believe that compliance is best positioned to lead ESG since it intersects with so many of their core functions. “Putting [compliance] in charge of the ESG initiatives would help make sure that [the company] meets all the regulations that they should, and also that they are reporting on data that is both accurate and informative,” he comments. Now that the SEC is poised to issue new mandates regarding climate change disclosures, compliance will most likely have to be front and center for ESG going forward. “When regulators get involved that tends to push compliance to the fore,” Aaron remarks.
 
Key Findings
Tom and Aaron discuss some key findings outlined in the article. These include:

  • The actual role of CCOs in ESG – 73% of CCOs have an active role in ESG, either as advisor, primary overseer, or advocate. 
  • Where they see their role – 23% of CCOs feel they should have more oversight over ESG than they currently have. Most persons surveyed feel that compliance should have a prominent role in ESG.
  • Whether compliance should lead all 3 aspects of ESG – Most CCOs see governance as their core function, while environmental and social concerns are secondary roles. 
  • Compliance is the conscience of the company.
  • Stakeholders are demanding more information on ESG to influence their investment decisions.

 
Growth of ESG
Tom sees ESG as the fastest moving corporate initiative. He asks Aaron if the survey confirms this view. “It’s been a gradual process that has come to a head in Europe and in the UK,” Aaron responds. Similar climate change disclosure mandates are likely to happen in the US in 2022. Companies have been pursuing sustainability and D&I initiatives for several years. “ESG collects up some of those things in a tight little bundle, and you can really pursue a lot of issues under the ESG umbrella,” he continues. He sees ESG accelerating over the next few years, starting with climate change. 
 
Resources
Aaron Nicodemus on LinkedIn | Twitter | Email
Compliance Week: Compliance Must Carve Out Role in Company ESG Efforts
 

Categories
The Walden Pond

Compliance Predictions for 2021 with Aaron Nicodemus of Compliance Week


Aaron Nicodemus is a staff writer and reporter at Compliance Week. He joins Vince Walden to discuss the recent report authored by COSO and to share new recommendations for managers and executives to manage compliance risks.

Internal audit professionals would be the compliance professionals most familiar with COSO, as they set the guidelines for Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls compliance. The report, titled “Compliance Risk Management: Applying the COSO ERM Framework,” was like a collaboration between accountants and attorneys, according to Vince. 
Compliance should not be viewed as a low-level function, Aaron remarks. Rather, it should be viewed as a strategic partnership with a business to run their operations and initiatives according to the rulebook, in order to avoid missteps and minimize risk. 
Resources
Aaron Nicodemus on LinkedIn | Twitter
ComplianceWeek.com
COSO report: Elevating compliance leads to more informed decision-making