ESG Accelerator Training Programme

Emily Morison (EM): Temi, welcome and thank you for speaking with us. Could you tell us about how you came to work as a lawyer in ESG and sustainability? 

Temi Lawal (TL): Yes, like you rightly said, I work as a lawyer in ESG and sustainability, and my journey is an interesting one. Every time I recount it, I tend to smile because it wasn’t planned. 

While I was studying for my masters, my original plan was to specialise in human rights (for example, at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights or Amnesty International). But somewhere down the line, I also got involved with environmental law, as Nigeria is an oil-rich country where oil spills and other forms of environmental pollution have always been a huge issue, and resulted in international litigation against multinational corporations seeking to hold them accountable for environmental damage. 

This led me to start looking at human rights and the environment, and how to combine both, because I wasn't really interested in dropping either of them. Along the line, I started looking ‘ESG’ up, and I just got hooked. 

When I thought of where I saw myself working in the future, it seemed to me that everyone else wanted to work with international organisations like the UN, the UNFCCC, and others responsible for compliance, policy setting and the rest. I asked myself how corporations were going to cope if everyone rushes to work for the international organisations, and that was an epiphany moment for me, because corporations usually – not always, but at least a lot of the time –want to do the right thing, but don't really know how to go about it. So, I really got involved in corporations from there. I volunteer on issues around international organisations and countries’ obligations as well, especially when it relates to climate negotiations, but I'm mostly involved with corporate governance as it relates to sustainability. So, I've been on that route now for about four years, I think, and it's been great. I'm loving it, and that's how I got here. 

EM: Temi, a lot has changed since you presented as part of the Programme in 2024: this year, we've entered a different regulatory and geopolitical environment. Do you have any insights that you can offer us into how ESG is about more than just regulatory compliance, and what lawyers might be able to do when they're advising their clients in this space? 

TL: I agree with you that we're in particularly different times. It's really interesting considering what's happening in the US, the EU and other parts of the world. So, I feel like it’s really important to keep highlighting the role of lawyers in ESG. 

In one of my recent posts on LinkedIn, I talked about the ESG law and regulatory matrix. I specifically chose the word ‘matrix’ because I believe ESG did not just come out of nowhere; it’s built on existing legal frameworks and existing legal practice areas. Essentially, ‘matrix’ means an environment where something is formed or where something comes to life, and this is the case for ESG: if you look at ESG laws, you have environmental law, human rights, consumer protection, competition law, and securities law and so on, and each has an ESG aspect. 

Taking securities law as an example, securities law is about disclosure requirements which apply mostly to publicly traded companies, requiring them to disclose their financial risks and opportunities to get investors. This is basically what ESG disclosures are all about as well, so there is a clear link between ESG disclosures and securities law. 

Moving to human rights laws, in my jurisdiction, these are more focused on due diligence (for example, forced labour regulations), but it's still part of ESG law. What about environmental law? There are laws that govern environmental impact assessments, or that govern certain decarbonisation targets. Competition law aims to prevent monopolistic practices, and thereby promotes ethical business conduct. As a final example, you have company law – the core of corporate governance itself – and this ties into the governance pillar of ESG. Of course, you also have trade and investment, you have contracts under that, you have sustainable finance, you have carbon markets.

I’ve explained some of the compliance elements of ESG, but it’s important to remember that ESG is not just about compliance and reporting, just to get the regulators off your back, or to satisfy your stakeholders. It’s so much more than that: ESG is about business advantage and opportunities as well. It's about the big picture, and getting the right governance framework and processes in place for your organisation.

While regulations are great and help keep businesses in check, right now I feel like ESG compliance and discussions about ESG compliance are too risk-focused. To get companies better engaged, we have to talk about opportunities as well, especially in times like this where ESG is facing so much backlash. As lawyers, we have to help corporations see the advantages of not just being ‘compliant for the sake of compliance’, but for using ESG strategically as a business advantage. 

EM: I really appreciate your comments around not only how this is an issue that does affect every area of legal practice, but also that it is something that encourages lawyers to put on not only their legal advisor hats, but also their strategic advisor hats. And that’s actually a comment that was made in the final session of the ESG accelerator training programme on governance.

Temi, you often use LinkedIn to post helpful explainers to help lawyers understand fundamental sustainability concepts, and you recently posted about ‘double materiality’. What is it, and why does it matter for ESG? 

TL: The concept of ‘double materiality’ is essentially about a company thinking about not just how sustainability factors impact it and its financial prospects (also called ‘single materiality’), but also how the company impacts society and the environment.
A lot of corporations seem to think that it’s just for compliance, but that's not the case. If you want to get a holistic and realistic view of your risks, your impact, your opportunities, it's really important [to use a double materiality assessment] because no matter how extensive your single materiality approach is, you will not get the full picture of the impact of your business actions unless you adopt the double materiality approach. 

And the truth is, regardless of whether you are required to disclose your double materiality assessments or not, the risks [associated with your business’ impacts on society or the environment] will always be there. For example, if you're developing environmental infrastructure as part of a sustainability initiative, but it destroys biodiversity or protected areas or displaces people, it becomes an impact materiality issue. You always have to consider these types of negative effects to ensure that your activities or initiatives do not comprise your other material sustainability issues. This is where adopting that big picture, and viewing your operations from multiple angles, really becomes important.

EM: Throughout the ESG Accelerator Programme, we had several questions from participants asking about how they can get involved in sustainability. Temi, do you have any tips or tricks for lawyers who are looking to engage more in the sustainability space? 

TL: I get asked this question a lot and I’d like to start by saying I believe that sustainability is for everyone. It’s such a wide field and touches different practice areas. I’d advise lawyers to dig deep and try to pivot based on what they’re already good at. There are lawyers in corporate governance, environmental law, human rights and consumer protection and so on, and as I’ve explained, all of these practice areas already have ESG elements, so start from there.

For example, if you’ve been practising in consumer protection law, you could come in from the greenwashing angle. If you’re in competition law, you can work with clients to promote ethical governance and ethical business conduct. If you’re in securities law, I’ve explained how this links with ESG disclosures. If you’re in trade and investment already, you can dip your hands into sustainable contracts, carbon markets agreements, sustainable finance transactions, and the rest. I believe it’s better for lawyers intending to get into the ESG space to pivot into it based on what they already know, and then as time goes on, there’ll always be opportunities for expansion.