But back in the early days of her career in London, Ms Beith recalled how it felt like "just a few of us around a table, putting our heads together".
Now, there was huge amounts of intellectual capability — "people thinking about it across the world in every corner" — and the depth and breadth of experience, and the "drive to do things" was extraordinary, she said.
Ms Beith has just completed her first year at wealth management firm Forsyth Barr, where she is head of ESG (environmental, social and governance). She moved there from the New Zealand Super Fund, where she loved her job, but the work she did was very internal and she wanted to focus more externally on "bringing New Zealand along this journey".
Being involved with a major piece of work, recently released by Forsyth Barr — the first comprehensive review of carbon, environmental, social and governance commitments, policies and practices — was a great way of doing that, Ms Beith, the lead author of the report, said.
In a year-long investigation, Forsyth Barr undertook detailed due diligence and analysis of the 57 New Zealand companies it covered, collected more than 6500 pieces of CESG data and turned it into an overall score that classified companies as Leader, Fast Follower, Explorer or Beginner.
CESG information had become a dominant focus for business leaders, investors, consumers and regulators over recent years. Whether in the form of ratings, regulations or banking convenants, CESG information was already widely used in decision-making. But a lack of confidence in CESG data still existed, causing hesitancy and uncertainty at a time when bold decisions were needed, the firm said.
Forsyth Barr’s inaugural CESG ratings were designed to solve the gap in resources. In the executive summary, it said the ratings helped to build confidence in the potential of a company’s long-term success and the scorecards helped to identify areas of risk beyond traditional financial analysis that warranted further investigation.
The information gathered enabled an assessment of how companies were adhering to best practice CESG standards and how they were navigating risks and opportunities associated with CESG themes.
It provided insights on how companies were positioning themselves for a low-carbon, more sustainability-focused future and how they were thinking about their impact on the environment and society. It also enabled an assessment of how companies were adapting to the ever increasing demands of different stakeholders.
Its findings highlighted that corporates were moving forwards on the sustainability agenda and the space was quickly evolving but there was a lot more work to do; and a significant gap between the leaders and beginners.
The majority of companies fell into the Fast Follower and Explorer categories. And for those delayed in getting under way, there was increasing urgency to take meaningful action.
Described as a snapshot in time of where the companies were in their transition to a more sustainably focused economy, it acted as a baseline from where progress could be measured.
The report said the transition to a more sustainability-focused economy was under way but cautioned that it was still early days. The pathway is uncertain and different parts of the economy moved at different speeds.
"From an investment perspective, we recognise the potential for significant disruption for businesses, particularly for carbon-intensive industries, those that sell polluting or harmful products and those with assets located in areas vulnerable to intensifying physical risks of climate change."
The risk was amplified by the introduction of legislation, whether planned or knee-jerk, and carbon pricing alongside changing consumer and investor preferences.
Company executives needed to focus on successfully managing a business from a strategic and operational perspective, while also effectively managing CESG risks and opportunities and thinking long term about how to position the company for the required transition.
The analysis was released at a time of heightened focus on sustainability-related disclosures around the world, including in New Zealand. And the urgency to act became greater by the day as global greenhouse gas emissions recovered from the Covid-induced drop, continuing on their steep upward ascent.
Greenwashing has enhanced the attention of regulators. Earlier this year, the Financial Markets Authority released results of a survey that revealed 68% of New Zealand investors wanted ethical and responsible investments but few had actually chosen a fund manager based on its ethical credentials.
Driving that were multiple barriers including technical jargon and difficulty navigating ethical investment options.
Ms Beith said increasingly people wanted to reflect their values in the way they invested. When it came to governance, "almost everyone, if not everyone’, either had a sustainability strategy in place or one under development.
It was encouraging to see the amount of movement and the pace of change at the moment was "very fast", Ms Beith said.
The report had generated a huge amount of interest and was "a really great starting point", she said.
