Davos – Greek Superfund CEO: Need for companies to adopt ESG criteria

The managing director of the super fund (Hellenic Holdings and Property Company – EESYP) Grigoris D. Dimitriadis spoke, in Davos, on the panel entitled “Global business leadership: driving trust and sustainable value creation in a fragmented world”about the responsibility of managements to change the governance model of businesses, adopting ESG criteria in their strategy, in order to contribute to sustainable development and sound corporate governance.

Making special reference to the concept of “shared values”, Mr. Dimitriadis noted that the main concern of company managements, in this context, is to make the shareholders happy, which for the company he leads, shareholders are all Greeks citizens.

But, as the head of the “Super Fund” said, the changes that take place even in his own organization are not widely known, with the result that not only is the public not informed, but often the participants in the development of a project themselves do not realize their contribution. At the same time that the sum of the actions is much greater than the individual actions.

Mr. Dimitriadis also emphasized that the ESG criteria are not a convenient narrative, but a good way to change the mentality and form of administrations. It is left to the communication managers to convey the message, so that management and shareholders are aware of the changes that are taking place and the direction in which they should move.