Carol Samaan, vice president – corporate counsel and ESG at Healthpeak Properties, Inc. (NYSE: PEAK), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s ESG JumpStart Workshop: 2022 Webinar Series.
Samaan said 2022 is likely to see companies more actively involved in stakeholder outreach, especially with investors, in order to get a better sense of what they need to disclose. “Disclosure is going to become a key item.”
Samaan also discussed anticipated disclosure rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the areas of climate, human capital, cybersecurity, and potentially politics. “It will give us better insight into how the SEC intends to regulate disclosure and with that, companies will really start to focus on what information they’re putting out there, not just in their annual report and on their websites but in their financial disclosures,” she said.
The SEC is expected to push companies to disclose what the financial impact of ESG is, which will refocus everyone on what the important ESG issues actually are, Samaan said.
As for board oversight, Samaan noted that many boards have adopted ESG as part of their regular oversight. She said she expects to see more boards seeking candidates with ESG expertise and more companies having a board level committee focused specifically on ESG.
Samaan also expects REITs to take an even closer look at their supply chains in 2022, including their downstream partners.