Green Summit Denmark: from legal insight to practical experience with ESG

The panel discussions centered around the themes of accelerating the green transition through corporate sustainability due diligence and co-operation, and colourwashing and challenges in corporate governance. Here is some of what the panelists said:

Robert Kirstejn Schmidt, Head of Sustainability, Nuuday: "The green transition is driven by customers and society, and I believe that legislation could really accelerate the green transition further. Previously, when we talked about CSR the "S" was in focus. Now with ESG we mostly talk about "E" (climate included) and tend to forget "S". Diversity, inclusion and belonging are very important aspects for us."

Thomas Hinrichsen, Partner, General Counsel, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners: ”The need for continuous and significant investments in decarbonization technologies is one of the biggest challenges of the green transition.”

Susan Korsholm Høj, Legal Counsel and Head of ESG, CataCap Management: "We need internal education. Top management and board level need to be educated in ESG. And then there is a cry for common standards. Legislation and the EU taxonomy will - hopefully - help on this matter but may also add a layer of complexity."

Lone Wandahl Mouyal, Associate Professor, Ph.D., University of Copenhagen: "Up until now, companies' work with sustainability has mainly built on voluntary initiatives. Now hard law legislation is taking over. ESG is not invention of the wheel, we just need to learn how to drive a new car."

Trine Pondal, Head of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Flying Tiger Copenhagen: "We never use the word “sustainable” – in its true sense it can be applied to almost nothing, and we also want to avoid colourwashing. Instead, we are hyper factual: “This product consists of…”."

Marissa Saretsky, VP, Global Sustainability, Pandora: "Transformation does not happen overnight. First you need to set the right ambition level, and that includes discussing and calibrating with the Board for top level buy-in.  Once the ambition is set, there is a changing of gears to ensure the right teams and resources are in place to actually get the job done.”

Maria Holst Levin, Partner, Kromann Reumert: "Don’t make your sustainability work a big monster. Start looking at what regulation you need to address: "what are our risks, what is evidently most important?" Then build on from there."

Kristjan Jespersen, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Copenhagen Business School: "Until now it has been purpose vs. profit, but they must be aligned. Regarding to avoid colorwashing, you need to centralize the data and have people who understands how the data is collected."

The Green Summit Denmark is associated with the Legal 500's Global Green Guide which puts a spotlight on law firms across the globe for their contribution to the green transition and where Kromann Reumert is a recommended firm. Read more.