15th Conference – Washington. D.C.

Date: March 4-5, 2024 
Location: Washington, DC
Host Institution: International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Objectives

On March 4-5, 2024, the CGDF held an in-person/virtual networking meeting at IFC in Washington, DC, the first post-pandemic meeting with physical participation. The objective was to address many cutting-edge corporate governance topics in an open discussion setting to strengthen the ongoing collaboration between governance professionals from various institutions. Issues debated included sustainability reporting, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as well as Artificial Intelligence and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) trends. The agenda is available for a list of all topics. The participants included representatives of over fifteen Development Finance Institutions as well as numerous international organizations and consultants.

Main Highlights

• CGDF remained strong and vibrant as a community fostering good governance practices and developing tools and guidance through the pandemic and beyond. The Working group has managed to maintain the relevance of the Corporate Governance Development Framework (“the Framework”) and even expand and improve it throughout a difficult period.
• The Working group has undertaken a thorough update of the Framework’s Progression Matrix, incorporating major new themes, such as climate change governance, stakeholder engagement, diversity-equity-inclusion considerations as well as family and integrity governance. The new Framework is the latest international best practice standard on corporate governance, and it can serve as a basis and benchmark for DFIs in evaluating CG practices in emerging market organizations. The Working Group will explore the provision of ancillary tools such as a questionnaire in the upcoming year.
• A sustainability-based approach, including reporting requirements, and an emphasis on climate and stakeholder governance has advanced the modern view of corporate governance.
• In addition to the convergence and interoperability of sustainability reporting standards as evidenced by the IFRS Sustainability Standards with S1 and S2, the need for sustainability reporting assurance is growing. As such, the International Federation of Accountants and the International Auditing and Assurance Board Standards Board are developing new standards to meet this demand.
• Framing corporate purpose is becoming increasingly important and, in certain cases, takes precedence over purely commercial goals of a company; yet there is a need to understand how defining corporate purpose becomes a legitimate undertaking and the value proposition behind it.
• Climate governance and integrity issues are significant issues for governance assessments in emerging markets; various approaches as to how to mitigate these risks within existing company governance structures and practices (audit, sustainability and/or risk committees) need to be considered.
• Artificial intelligence platforms, such as IFC’s MALENA (https://malena.ifc.org/#/), have taken their place in governance assessments in assisting governance professionals to more efficiently and accurately screen organizations’ corporate governance and E&S practices.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is an emerging governance topic as diversity of boards is expanding beyond gender diversity and many companies are now introducing DEI strategies and including DEI reporting in their annual report, sustainability report and/or issuing a separate DEI report.

Participants

• AFREXIMBANK
• Asian Development Bank
• Bank for International Settlements
• Black Sea Trade and Development Bank
• British International Investment
• CAF
• DBSA
• DEG
• Deloitte & Touche LLP
• EBRD
• FinDev Canada
• FinnFund
• FMO
• ICGN
• IDB Invest
• IFAC (International Federation of Accountants)
• IFC
• IFRS Foundation
• Institutional Shareholder Services
• New Development Bank
• Proparco
• Sofid
• Valoris Stewardship Catalysts
• World Bank