US companies delay impact reports with DEI, ESG under attack

Boston Globe

21 hours ago

Nike joins a growing list of companies that includes JPMorgan Chase & Co., Constellation Brands Inc. and Akamai Technologies Inc. that are either canceling or delaying publication of their so-called sustainability or corporate impact reports for shareholders. While companies aren't legally obliged to disclose such information, most S&P 500 members did so in 2024.
For more than a decade, this is usually the time period when companies tout the steps they're taking to lower carbon emissions and improve the diversity, equity, and inclusion of their businesses. Opposition to these reports first surfaced about three years ago when GOP lawmakers and activists began pressing companies to scale back such efforts. And some companies have reacted by taking steps such as scrubbing ESG and DEI-related words from public documents.
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The election of President Donald Trump has further empowered the anti-DEI movement. During his first week in the White House, he signed executive orders ending federal diversity programs and restricting gender definition to two sexes — male and female. None of the companies contacted said Trump's actions changed their planning for releasing sustainability reports.
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'The consequences of reported information are much greater now than they were a decade ago,' said Martin Whittaker, chief executive officer of JUST Capital, noting that both progressive and conservative activists are searching for evidence of companies' missteps.
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Whittaker estimates that about 25 percent of sustainability-related corporate reporting is behind schedule this year.
Here are some of the S&P 500 companies that have yet to publish sustainability reports, according to researchers at DiversIQ.
Nike, JPMorgan, Constellation Brands, and Akamai Technologies have different explanations for why their sustainability reports haven't been published this year.
Nike said in an email that it still plans to share the work it's doing to create a more inclusive and sustainable world for athletes in other formats and that its commitment to diversity goals for 2025 hasn't changed.
In a regulatory filing, JPMorgan said it plans to release a consolidated report on ESG and climate topics later this year. However, the bank added that it will 'monitor the evolving disclosure landscape as we iterate on our approach to disclosure.' JPMorgan published its '2024 Climate Report' in November.
At Constellation Brands, a spokesperson said the timing of the publication's release was adjusted after receiving 'stakeholder feedback.' The next report is scheduled to be issued next month, the spokesperson said. Cambridge-based cloud computing and cybersecurity company Akamai said its data-center vendors were partly to blame for a delay in publication until the end of this quarter. The company wasn't more specific.
For the past several years, Pfizer Inc. had published an impact report by April. When contacted last week about the delay in publication, a company spokesperson said the timing was adjusted to 'allow for necessary internal processes in preparation for evolving global ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting requirements.' The company released its report this week.
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The lack of information is a blow, even if temporary, to corporate transparency. Many shareholders rely on the disclosures to gauge how serious companies are about addressing ESG issues, inequities in the workforce and other factors that can impact the short- and long-term value of their investments.
Activist investors who've pressed companies to release more data on DEI and climate initiatives have been willing to cut companies some slack this year, given the heightened scrutiny from the Trump administration.
Andrew Behar, CEO of As You Sow, which supports social responsibility, said executives have been asking him privately for some flexibility in what information they release this year.
'We told them to not put themselves at risk right now,' Behar said. 'That isn't good for anyone.'
And the caution is warranted, said GianCarlo Canaparo, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has warned against possible discrimination in company DEI programs.
Corporate leaders are aware that Trump has asked agency heads to identify nine companies or organizations that should be investigated for possible illegal DEI activities, Canaparo said. So far, the names haven't been made public, but it's clearly on companies' radar, he said.
'If you have been using race preferences, you really want to make sure you don't get caught,' Canaparo said. 'And if you haven't, you want to make sure you aren't dragged into litigation to explore whether you have.'
Mathieu Benhamou and Fiona Rutherford contributed to this report.