(MT Newswires) — Tesla, operating in the automobile industry, receives from ISS ESG an overall ESG Corporate Rating of C+ and an overall ESG Performance Score of 54.1. The company ranks in decile 1, indicating that Tesla’s overall ESG performance is better than the ESG performance of most of its competitors.

Tesla receives from ISS ESG an Environmental Rating of B- and a Social Rating of D+. An A+ rating is the highest possible and indicates excellent performance in the category, while a rating of D- is the lowest possible and denotes poor category performance.

The ISS ESG Environmental Rating is based on Tesla’s performance across key environmental metrics related to energy management, water risk and impact, waste management, eco-efficiency, and sector-specific environmental impacts along the value chain, among other considerations.

The ISS ESG Social Rating is based on Tesla’s performance across key social metrics related to the company’s staff and suppliers, health and safety, human rights, and sector-specific product responsibility, among other factors.

According to ISS ESG’s Automobile industry analyst, “For automobile manufacturers, the main sustainability issues are the reduction of CO2 emissions of the car fleet, resource consumption and emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of vehicles as well as environmental and social standards in the supply chain.

“Tesla’s products emit negligible air emissions during their use-phase compared to conventional vehicles. However, Tesla does not demonstrate to conduct life cycle analyses of its vehicles in a comprehensive manner. Supplier standards for social and environmental issues exist but the company only informs on a general level on measures taken to ensure standards are met by suppliers. The same is true for various other issues like staff relations including labour rights where Tesla shows commitment on a general level but detailed information as well as quantitative data is not available. With regard to its production facilities, the company seems to concentrate on renewable energy consumption, leaving room for improvement in areas like certified management systems which are considered industry standard for a company with nearly 50000 employees (as at 2019). Tesla faces several lawsuits regarding its automobile models with autopilot mode which allegedly caused car accidents and several casualties. In 2019, the company issued its first ever sustainability report, thereby starting to collect and report quantitative data on various environmental and social issues, which will help to assess the company’s sustainability performance against time and competitors in the coming years.”

Tesla receives an ISS ESG Carbon Risk Rating of 74, with 100 being the best possible score. This risk rating indicates how well Tesla is positioned to cope with or benefit from the transition to a low carbon economy, and takes into account indicators specific to the Automobile industry.

ISS ESG’s Norm-Based Research currently flags Tesla for breaching international standards, and in one or more instances failing to respect established societal norms. This breach is verified by an authoritative body, but the issue remains unaddressed.

(MT Newswires) — Tesla, headquartered in the United States, is ranked by the ISS ESG Governance QualityScore in decile 10 relative to its regional peers. Companies with high-quality governance practices that pose the least risk rank in the first decile, while companies with low-quality governance practices posing the most risk rank in the tenth decile.

The Governance QualityScore ranks Tesla by decile for several categories related to corporate governance, with a low decile indicating low risk relative to S&P 500 companies:

– Audit and risk oversight practices: Decile 9 of 10

– Composition and structure of board of directors: Decile 10 of 10

– Executive compensation and compensation structure: Decile 10 of 10

– Quality of shareholder rights: Decile 10 of 10

Shareholder support for CEO Elon Musk is high, with 99.14% of voting shareholders indicating their support for Musk at the most recent annual meeting. The lowest level of shareholder support for any of Tesla’s 9 board members is 81.28%.

The most recent “say on pay” CEO compensation proposal was supported by 84.55% of voting shareholders. Musk’s pay is 0.41 times the median pay earned by Tesla employees.

ISS ESG indicates that executive compensation is not structured to align well with Tesla’s financial performance. Musk’s equity compensation is 0% of the executive’s total compensation.

The board of directors of Tesla is 77.78% independent, meaning that 77.78% of directors do not have any material relationship with the company and are not part of its executive team. Women comprise 22.22% of the board, which is not elected annually.

Tesla issues only a single class of stock, giving all shareholders the same voting rights.

(MT Newswires) — Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) on Friday rose 1.6% on last look after saying that it has joined the Charge on Innovation Challenge, an industry-wide effort to cut emissions from surface mining.

“At Barrick, we have set ourselves an emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030 against our 2018 baseline and our vision is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” Mark Bristow, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “While we have already made clear strides in meeting these targets, we are constantly looking at new and innovative ways to further enhance our environmental credentials.”

As part of the initiative, the companies are considering using large-scale haul truck electrification to decarbonize mining.

So far over 350 companies from across 19 industries have registered their interest as vendors with 80 companies submitting formal expressions of interest.

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(MT Newswires) — Microsoft, operating in the Interactive Media & Online Consumer Services industry, receives from ISS ESG an overall ESG Corporate Rating of B- and an overall ESG Performance Score of 66.26. The company ranks in decile 1, indicating that Microsoft’s overall ESG performance is better than the ESG performance of most of its competitors.

Microsoft receives from ISS ESG an Environmental Rating of B- and a Social Rating of B-. An A+ rating is the highest possible and indicates excellent performance in the category, while a rating of D- is the lowest possible and denotes poor category performance.

The ISS ESG Environmental Rating is based on Microsoft’s performance across key environmental metrics related to energy management, water risk and impact, waste management, eco-efficiency, and sector-specific environmental impacts along the value chain, among other considerations.

The ISS ESG Social Rating is based on Microsoft’s performance across key social metrics related to the company’s staff and suppliers, health and safety, human rights, and sector-specific product responsibility, among other factors.

According to ISS ESG’s Interactive Media & Online Consumer Services industry analyst, “As a provider of both soft- and hardware, Microsoft faces risks related to data privacy and information security, as well as risks related to labor rights at manufacturing suppliers and environmental impacts, e.g., regarding take-back and recycling of hardware products.

“While the company’s privacy policy misses out on some crucial topics, e.g., data retention and minimization, Microsoft is committed to avoid complicity in human rights violations by respecting the right to privacy of users/customers when confronted with government demands. In addition, Microsoft has implemented a comprehensive framework to ensure information security across operations and in product development and has an ISO 27001 certification for most relevant operations. To minimize the environmental impacts of data processing, the company has implemented various measures to increase energy efficiency in data centers and pledges to increase the share of renewables used to power data center operations. Regarding environmental risks stemming from its hardware segment, Microsoft not only complies with the EU RoHS legislation but goes beyond to ban several other substances such as PVC and brominated flame-retardants. Yet, regarding e-waste, it remains unclear whether free take-back schemes are offered outside the United States. As a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA, the company has sound policies and procedures in place to mitigate labor rights risks at its outsourced production sites. Furthermore, the vast majority of minerals processors have been determined to be ‘conflict-free’. In recent years, the company has implemented large-scale redundancies. While some affected employees seem to have received severance payments or outplacement services, a comprehensive approach to ensure responsible workforce restructuring does not seem to be in place.”

Microsoft receives an ISS ESG Carbon Risk Rating of 69, with 100 being the best possible score. This risk rating indicates how well Microsoft is positioned to cope with or benefit from the transition to a low-carbon economy, and takes into account indicators specific to the Interactive Media & Online Consumer Services industry.

(MT Newswires) — Microsoft, headquartered in the United States, is ranked by the ISS ESG  Governance QualityScore in decile 1 relative to its regional peers. Companies with high-quality governance practices that pose the least risk rank in the first decile, while companies with low-quality governance practices posing the most risk rank in the tenth decile.

The Governance QualityScore ranks Microsoft by decile for several categories related to corporate governance, with a low decile indicating low risk relative to S&P 500 companies:

– Audit and risk oversight practices: Decile 4 of 10

– Composition and structure of board of directors: Decile 1 of 10

– Executive compensation and compensation structure: Decile 4 of 10

– Quality of shareholder rights: Decile 1 of 10

Shareholder support for CEO Satya Nadella is high, with 99.89% of voting shareholders indicating their support for Nadella at the most recent annual meeting. The lowest level of shareholder support for any of Microsoft’s 11 board members is 98.89%.

The most recent “say on pay” CEO compensation proposal was supported by 94.72% of voting shareholders. Nadella’s pay is 249 times the median pay earned by Microsoft employees.

The bonus pay awarded to Nadella equals 440% of Nadella’s base salary. Nadella’s equity compensation is 66% of the executive’s total compensation.

The equity awards to Nadella that are performance based equal 53% of Nadella’s total equity compensation, and the equity awards to Nadella that are time based equal 47% of the total equity granted. The terms of the performance-based equity awards require Microsoft under Nadella to achieve specific outcomes before those equity awards can vest, while the time-based equity awards are redeemable by Nadella at predetermined dates regardless of performance.

The board of directors of Microsoft is 90.91% independent, meaning that 90.91% of directors do not have any material relationship with the company and are not part of its executive team. Women comprise 45.45% of the board, which is not elected annually.

Microsoft issues only a single class of stock, giving all shareholders the same voting rights.

ISS ESG reports that, within the past two years, a regulator initiated an enforcement action against Microsoft, but the issue has already been resolved without the company facing any material penalties.

(MT Newswires) — French oil major TotalEnergies (TTE.L, TTE.PA) joined industrial firm Air Liquide (AI.PA) formed an alliance with other companies to decarbonize an industrial basin in France’s Normandy region and achieve the European Union’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050, according to a Monday release.

The two French companies, alongside chemicals groups Yara International (YAR.OL) and Borealis and ExxonMobil’s Esso, signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly examine a potential carbon capture and storage infrastructure from their industrial facilities to ultimate storage in the North Sea of Europe.

The initial phase involves assessing the technical and economical feasibility of the project, which is estimated to cut emissions by up to 3 million tons per year until 2030, equivalent to emission from 1 million passenger cars.

Air Liquide will use expertise from its Cryocap capture and liquefaction project implemented at its plant in Port Jerome, Normandy, its executive vice president, Francois Jackow, said. Similarly, TotalEnergies is set to use the know-how from its involvement in the Northern Lights and Aramis carbon storage projects in the North Sea, President of Refining & Chemicals Bernard Pinatel said.

The partnership will procure funding from European, French and regional schemes, to finance the decarbonization project, and add other interested industrial parties to the joint venture.

TotalEnergies was down over 2% in London on Monday midday, while Air Liquide was up marginally and Yara gained almost 3%.

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