Good morning, Peter Vanham here in rainy Geneva.
This summer, some Fortune 500 CEOs backed away from their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives under pressure from activists like Robby Starbuck. Ford, Lowe’s, and John Deere were among those to retreat and publicly state they were focusing instead on what they consider the fundamentals of business. Ford CEO Jim Farley, for instance, said the automaker would be “taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day.”
In Europe, companies are landing in a different place. Their social responsibility revolution is discrete, but it will happen through the rather boring systems of accounting and reporting.
