Abstract
Worldwide, companies in the semiconductor value chain are undergoing paradigm shifts in how sustainable business is conducted, governed, and reported. From engineering to the board room, the number of interdependent corporate functions charged with improving corporate sustainability performance is growing rapidly, with implications for decision-making across the enterprise.
New global sustainability regulations mean that key decisions regarding a company's sustainability strategy can now have significant regulatory implications. Understanding how one decision affects (or forecloses) another is critical, and companies must think several steps ahead to put themselves in a position to achieve their sustainability objectives without painting themselves into a corner.
This webinar will focus on discrete examples where such an approach is paramount – including making climate risk materiality determinations, adopting a climate transition plan, making product-related sustainability claims, disclosing conflict minerals smelter names, and selecting a double materiality assessment methodology. For each example, we will leverage data to examine industry trends, identify the specific potential issues, and suggest practical strategies to navigate those issues.
To ground the conversation, we will illustrate various ways in which these issues can come up in practice by discussing a set of hypothetical sustainability decisions, the related regulatory implications, and approaches that balance sustainability objectives and regulatory considerations.
As the semiconductor industry prepares for the coming wave of new sustainability laws and regulations, companies have an opportunity to develop a regulatory strategy for sustainability that takes an integrated approach to regulatory requirements, encourages coordination and collaboration between the sustainability and legal departments, minimizes regulatory burden and compliance risk, and enables sustainable and responsible business. We will share common features of strategies that have been successful in this regard and provide our recommendations regarding operationalizing such a strategy in your organization.
This event inaugurates the SEMI webinar series, “Global State of Play: Sustainability Regulations, Reporting, & Incentives.” New in 2024, this series offers semiconductor industry professionals the chance to interact with top-tier experts on the most pressing challenges in compliance, disclosure, and strategy for sustainable business.
Speaker
Ashley Walter is Partner & Chief Sustainability Officer at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where he advises large technology companies, leading apparel brands, multinational retailers, and renewable energy project developers on business-critical climate, product sustainability, human rights and responsible sourcing issues. As Orrick’s Chief Sustainability Officer, he also oversees Orrick’s strategic sustainability initiatives.
Ashley focuses on developing innovative methods of supporting clients in achieving ESG objectives, including designing novel systems to manage supply chain risk; forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees; and helping clients address the ESG requirements of major customers by engaging with those customers on his clients’ behalf.
Ashley is also heavily involved in ESG initiatives at Stanford Law School, where he has served as a moderator at the Stanford Directors’ College, has lectured on ESG at business law courses, and will be teaching the course “Law and Governance in ESG Strategy” in the spring of 2025.
United States
Worldwide, companies in the semiconductor value chain are undergoing paradigm shifts in how sustainable business is conducted, governed, and reported. From engineering to the board room, the number of interdependent corporate functions charged with improving corporate sustainability performance is growing rapidly, with implications for decision-making across the enterprise.
Join us for this first event in our series, “Global State of Play: Sustainability Regulations, Reporting, & Incentives.” The series offers semiconductor industry professionals the chance to interact with top-tier experts on the most pressing challenges in compliance, disclosure, and strategy for sustainable business.
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