Tag: Jared Connors

Categories
The ESG Report

Jared Connors Looks Into 2023

In this episode of the ESG Report, Tom Fox discusses the regulatory movement towards mandatory climate disclosure requirements. Guest Jared Connors explains why product liability, previously viewed as a negative for sustainability, is now viewed as a positive.

Jared Connors is on the regulatory team at Assent. In his role, he supports and analyzes the market, engages standards and framework makers and regulatory agencies to help understand what companies will face and how they can comply.

 

  • Jared says that product compliance depends on how certain jurisdictions approach sustainability. 
  • Consumers make an impact on upstream corporation supply and demand, and that impact is shown via downstream companies who produce the products.
  • Companies have to do a better job at being proactive about knowing their supply chain and the stance of the suppliers that they work with.
  • Organizations need to be able to show that their suppliers have no connection to modern day slavery. 
  • Jared stresses the point of transparency as opposed to sustainability. When companies, suppliers and stakeholders are transparent, business becomes more ethical. 

 

Resources

Jared Connors on LinkedIn

Assent

Categories
The ESG Report

Assent Webinar on the ESG Regulatory Year in Review & 2023 Forecast

On this special edition of the ESG Report, I repost a recent webinar hosted by Assent. In this webinar, top Assent SMEs looked back at key ESG, supply chain and sustainability topics from 2022 and into 2023. Speakers included Cally Edgren, Director, Regulatory & Sustainability Experts; Dr. Bruce Jarnot, Regulatory & Sustainability Expert, Product Sustainability; Jared Connors, Regulatory & Sustainability Expert, ESG & Responsible Sourcing and Travis Miller, General Counsel.

Topics covered include:

  • Events in 2022 that impacted supply chain sustainability and global product market access;
  • What Assent’s regulatory experts see on the horizon for 2023 and beyond;
  • Steps manufacturers must take to protect their market access in 2023; and
  • Developing programs to address increasingly complex supply chain sustainability requirements.

Resources:

For more on Assent, click here.

For the full webinar click here.

Categories
The ESG Report

Responsible Minerals, Supply Chain and ESG with Jared Connors and Daniel Zamora

 

Jared Connors and Daniel Zamora join Tom Fox in this episode of the ESG Report to discuss how market expectations have evolved with regard to due diligence in the responsible sourcing field.

 

 

Due diligence used to be a data collection exercise where you get transparency into your supply chain, but now it’s all about what you do with that information after you collect data. It’s about how a company can move from being reactive to being proactive and going beyond regulatory requirements. It means risk management activities related to identifying sanctions within your supply chain. The first step to becoming proactive with your data due diligence is collecting data more efficiently. This allows you to have the resources in place to perform risk management within your supply chain. “You need to have a specific program in place that would allow you to see and identify the risks so you can see where minerals are coming from and where the minerals are going afterwards,” Daniel says.

 

Under the Biden administration, there has been a major focus on critical minerals when it comes to sanctions and regulations. Critical minerals are not specifically tied to the Dodd-Frank Act, but this focus has emphasized to all stakeholders in the industry to be vigilant about them in general. All stakeholders – downstream companies, shareholders, suppliers, customers, and employees – are engaging in discussions and conversations around the ESG requirements for critical minerals. Having an entity in your supply chain that is tied to a sanction puts you at risk, no matter how direct or indirect that linkage is. 

 

Resources

Jared Connors on LinkedIn

Daniel Zamora on LinkedIn

Tom Fox’s email

Assent

 

Categories
The ESG Report

Supply Chain & ESG: Scope 3 Emissions Reporting Strategy with Devin O’Herron and Jared Connors

 

In this episode of the ESG Report,Tom Fox is joined by Devin O’Herron and Jared Connors of Assent to discuss Scope 3 emissions reporting as the key to disclosure success. They talk about the importance of accounting for Scope 3 in your emissions strategy.

 

 

There are three scope levels within the emissions reporting strategy: Scope 1 refers to things like your vehicle or things you’re doing around your facility; Scope 2 is the purchased heat or electricity powering your facility; and Scope 3 is all those variables outside your four walls. The most important aspect of Scope 3 is purchased goods. This has a large impact on organizations that may not necessarily take in raw materials and directly manufacture those raw materials into a finished good. “Even if your organization designs products and influences those products, you typically will obtain your raw materials components through your supply chain,” Jared says. The supply chain is a very significant factor to consider when coming up with the emissions strategy as a company.

 

A recent study found that Scope 3 emissions are typically 11 times larger than an organization’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions combined. As mandatory climate disclosure legislation progresses into the future, the overall emissions strategy needs to start accounting for Scope 3 as much as possible. “When it comes to Scope 3 emissions in particular, as we think about things like carbon taxes, risk in terms of risk, if you don’t understand what exactly that applies to your organization, you are missing a big opportunity,” Devin stresses. Organizations need to get a handle on their total emissions footprint. You cannot manage what you do not measure. 

 

Resources

Devin O’Herron on LinkedIn

Jared Connors | LinkedIn

Tom Fox’s email

Assent website

 

Categories
The ESG Report

Supply Chain and ESG – ESG Drivers with James Calder and Jared Connors

 

James Calder and Jared Connors of Assent are today’s guests on this premier episode of the 5-part series, Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know. In this brief conversation, they chat with Tom Fox about how ESG impacts a company’s performance presently and in the future.

 

 

Before the pandemic, many companies were very dependent on global supply chains. Post-pandemic, however, companies need to focus on environmental resilience. This means that they need to be careful about where they get their supplies from because there is a risk of disruption. It is risky now to source from regions that do not abide by the appropriate environmental controls or expectations on human rights, all of which can lead to a supply chain disruption. Additionally, companies that can’t demonstrate that their products don’t violate human rights are at a disadvantage. Without evidence that they are adhering to labor laws, they could lose business to their competitors, Jared tells Tom. 

 

ESG offers companies the opportunity to determine with data if there are operational inefficiencies. If there are inefficiencies, business solutions can be brought to help make companies actually run more efficiently from the data collation required for an ESG program. This in turn saves companies money. “When you think about that in the context of labor… if you’re helping the well-being of these organizations or these individuals out there working in these organizations, oftentimes you see a lot more efficiency and better quality in their work,” Jared says. 

 

Resources

James Calder | LinkedIn 

Jared Connors | LinkedIn

Assent

 

Categories
Innovation in Compliance

Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know: Episode 5 – Responsible Minerals, Supply Chain and ESG with Jared Connors and Daniel Zamora

 

Jared Connors and Daniel Zamora join Tom Fox in the final episode of the Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know series, to discuss how market expectations have evolved with regards to due diligence in the responsible sourcing field.

 

 

Due diligence used to be a data collection exercise where you get transparency into your supply chain, but now it’s all about what you do with that information after you collect data – how a company can move from being reactive to being proactive. The first step to making this move is collecting data more efficiently; this allows you to have the resources in place to perform risk management within your supply chain. You need to know who’s on your supply chain, and you need to have a specific program in place to identify the risks of smelters.

 

Under the Biden administration, there has been a major focus on critical minerals when it comes to sanctions and regulations. Critical minerals are not specifically tied to the Dodd-Frank Act, but this focus has emphasized to stakeholders in the industry to be vigilant about them in general. Having an entity in your supply chain that is tied to a sanction puts you at risk no matter how direct or indirect that linkage is.

 

Resources

Assent

Categories
Innovation in Compliance

Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know: Episode 4 – Scope 3 Emissions Reporting Strategy with Devin O’Herron and Jared Connors

 

In part 4 of the Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know series,Tom Fox is joined by Devin O’Herron and Jared Connors of Assent to discuss Scope 3 emissions reporting as the key to disclosure success. They talk about the importance of accounting for Scope 3 in your emissions strategy.

 

 

There are three scope levels within the emissions reporting strategy: Scope 1 refers to things like your vehicle or things you’re doing around your facility; Scope 2 is the purchased heat or electricity powering your facility; and Scope 3 is all those variables outside your four walls. The most important aspect of Scope 3 is purchased goods. This has a large impact on organizations that may not necessarily take in raw materials and directly manufacture those raw materials into a finished good. The supply chain is a very significant factor to consider when coming up with the emissions strategy as a company.

 

A recent study found that Scope 3 emissions are typically 11 times larger than an organization’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions combined. As mandatory climate disclosure legislation progresses into the future, the overall emissions strategy needs to start accounting for Scope 3 as much as possible. 

 

Resources

Assent

 

Categories
Innovation in Compliance

Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know: Episode 1 – ESG Drivers with James Calder and Jared Connors

 

James Calder and Jared Connors are today’s guests on this premier episode of the 5-part series, Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know. This series is sponsored by Assent. In this conversation, they chat with Tom Fox about how ESG impacts a company’s performance presently and in the future.

 

 

Before the pandemic, many companies were very dependent on global supply chains. But now that the pandemic has started, companies need to be more resilient and focus on environmental resilience. This means that they need to be careful about where they get their supplies from because there is a risk of disruptions. Additionally, companies that can’t demonstrate that their products don’t violate human rights are at a disadvantage. Without evidence that they are adhering to labor laws, they could lose business to their competitors, Jared tells Tom. 

 

ESG can help companies save money and be more efficient. “When you think about that in the context of labor… if you’re helping the well-being of these organizations or these individuals out there working in these organizations, oftentimes you see a lot more efficiency and better quality in their work,” Jared says. 

 

Resources

Assent

 

Categories
Blog

Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know: ESG Drivers

I recently had the opportunity to visit with several folks from Assent Inc. for a sponsored podcast series entitled Supply Chain and ESG – What You Need to Know. We discussed: ESG drivers with Jared Connors and James Calder; UFLPA, Supply Chain and ESG with Travis Miller and Jamie Wallisch; the New World of Product Compliance and ESG, with Cally Edgren and Devin O’Herron; Emissions Reporting Strategies with Devin O’Herron and Jared Connors; and Responsible Minerals, Supply Chain and ESG, with Jared Connors and Daniel Zamora. Today we consider key environmental, social and governance (ESG) drivers.

We began with some of the key factors driving ESG. The pandemic was a major driver and the Russian invasion of Ukraine another key event. Calder believes that key issues around sustainability overlaid with increased regulatory and investment pressure have also been key drivers. The pandemic emphasized the huge dependency on global supply chain, and everyone realized we have to become more resilient and maintaining resilience also increased the need for environmental resilience.

Additionally, there are multiple drivers for human rights, built upon the UK Modern Slavery Act,  such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). Laws are being created focusing on the environment, human rights and especially supply chain due diligence. It can even be a risk now to source from regions that do not abide by the appropriate environmental controls or do not abide by our expectations on human rights, all of which can lead to a supply chain disruption.

Obviously, investors, lenders and even insurers are looking at ESG issues with the constituencies. Connors emphasized the commercial pressures companies are under regarding ESG. He related, “today alone, I’ve had calls with three companies about this.” He went on to add issues can range “from social accountability looking upstream at all their suppliers of parts and sub-assemblies. If I don’t meet these obligations, I can’t ship into a certain geography. And they were talking about restrictions on being able to import goods into the United States and the pressures that they were feeling from their customers on showing their due diligence on what their labor practices were to their customers.”

Another significant driver is in talent acquisition and retention where companies are looking at competing for new employees and trying to attract new talent into their organizations. Companies want to show their leadership in sustainability because there is a new generation of employees who want to work for and at companies with sustainability values. Not surprisingly, Connors sees investor relations as a fundamental driver of ESG and interestingly, “investors are looking at that from a non-financial reporting, as much as they are looking at it from a financial performance aspect. In fact, the more C-suite level individuals I talk to, they say that ESG sustainability is more of what their shareholder meetings are than what their financials are anymore.”

We also considered where the ESG drivers may be down the road. Calder noted it is unusual because there is both legal and regulatory pressures in addition to the market pressure. These market pressures will only grow from what we are seeing now in terms of sustainability and ESG and they are being weighed stronger in the bid process. He noted, “customers are coming to us saying we’re actually losing bids.” But this provides a market opportunity that if you can demonstrate “qualities that are superior to your competitors in these areas, you could win more bids.”

One driver that does not get as much as it should is the business operations aspect of ESG. Connors grew up professionally in the conflict mineral space where companies were required to take a deep due diligence drive into their supply chain. This provided companies with solid information which led to the opportunity to discover inefficiencies. ESG offers companies that same opportunity with data, to determine if there are operational inefficiencies. If there are inefficiencies, business solutions can be brought to bear to help make companies actually run more efficiently from the data collation required for an ESG program.

Calder concluded with a caution about green washing. He said, “we see through a lot of our monitoring of the supply chain” and that companies export more regulatory oversight around carbon emissions and reporting. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has created their own enforcement task force for ESG. “The SEC will expect standards. The SEC will expect auditing. They expect you to be able to back up what you say and that backing up what you say does come from a reporting requirement.”

Join me tomorrow where I consider the UFLPA, supply chains and ESG.

To listen to the podcast this blog post is based upon, click here.

Categories
The ESG Compliance Podcast

ESG Supply Chain Compliance with Travis Miller and Jared Connors


Assent Compliance’s Travis Miller and Jared Connors join us as they discuss their work in conflict minerals supply chains, how ESG compliance plays a role, what companies should do to interpret data and increase efficiency and recovery, and the future of risk management.
▶️ ESG Supply Chain Compliance with Travis Miller and Jared Connors:
Key points discussed in the episode:
✔️ Companies are starting to realize the significance of making a commitment to ESG through responsible sourcing.
✔️ Outsourcing usually occurs in the most regulated, most dangerous, and least profitable businesses.
✔️ Business continuity planning is crucial in risk management, more flexible disaster response, and efficient operations. Aside from environmental and social, risk is also a financial concern.
✔️ The most important letter of ESG is P – product, people, and policies. Middle-aged workers are the most vulnerable and highly targeted in inhumane business practices and violations.
✔️ Dig deeper into organizations and understand their commitments to mitigate and prepare for risk.
✔️ Non-financial risks are pressuring investor disclosures.
✔️ ESG is reorienting the global market and the world. Large-scale environmental and social scandals ruin reputation and business.
✔️ Educating the supply chain contributes to overall company efficiency and risk management.
✔️ Compliance toolkits should be utilized even outside the company. The legal space has become the ideal practice ground for compliance.
✔️ Companies should be proactive in detecting supply chain issues internally.
✔️ Translate technical speak to an executive language to gain interest from the C-level suite.
✔️ Assess supply chain maturity.
✔️Companies are now compelled to make a change due to their global influence. Consumers’ cries for environmental and social accountability are now heard – all thanks to social media.
Jared Connors is a senior subject matter expert on Corporate Social Responsibility at Assent Compliance, the worlds’ leader in supply chain data management.
His expertise involves achieving ESG goals by understanding and mitigating potential supply chain risk, the transition from CSR to ESG, how companies can take a holistic approach to ESG, and ESG-related regulations, such as those pertaining to human trafficking and slavery, conflict minerals, and anti-bribery, anti-corruption.
Travis Miller is General Counsel at Assent Compliance. He manages Assent’s worldwide legal activities, advises the Board of Directors on legal matters, and oversees corporate compliance, governance initiatives, and other commercial transactions. Before coming to Assent, he served in various high-level counsel positions with companies such as Microchip Technology, Foresite Group, and St. Jude Medical.
Resources
Assent Compliance on Twitter
Assent Compliance on LinkedIn
Jared on Linkedin
Travis Miller on Linkedin
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