Governance Briefing — September 11, 2023
OECD members approved the revised G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance on September 11, 2023, adding sustainability, digitalisation, and stakeholder due diligence expectations to the global benchmark for listed-company boards.
Executive briefing: OECD Ministers endorsed the revised G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance on 11 September 2023, the first update since 2015. The revision weaves sustainability and digital resilience into the global reference framework for listed-company boards, capital markets supervisors, and institutional investors. Boards must now evidence oversight of climate and human-rights diligence, explain how they manage data stewardship and cybersecurity risks, and give shareholders clearer visibility into related-party transactions and capital allocation.
What changed
- Sustainability disclosure baseline. Companies should provide timely, high-quality sustainability and climate information, with regulators tasked to converge reporting frameworks and ensure assurance quality.
- Digital governance. Boards are expected to oversee data governance, cybersecurity, and responsible use of emerging technologies, while supervisors strengthen market resilience to digital disruption.
- Stakeholder due diligence. The Principles call for risk-based human-rights and supply-chain diligence, elevating board accountability for adverse impact remediation.
Implications for operators
- Public sector owners. State-owned enterprise ministries should benchmark ownership policies and nomination processes against the Principles to evidence alignment with OECD peer review expectations.
- Financial institutions. Stewardship teams can cite the Principles when engaging issuers on credible transition plans, internal controls, and capital allocation discipline.
- Technology and data-rich firms. Boards must map digital risk governance to enterprise risk management, including AI oversight, privacy engineering, and incident escalation protocols.
Action checklist
- Update board charters and committee mandates to capture sustainability oversight, stakeholder diligence, and digital resilience responsibilities.
- Align enterprise reporting roadmaps with interoperability priorities highlighted by the Principles—ISSB, EU CSRD, and jurisdictional taxonomies.
- Refresh investor-relations scripts to reference the Principles when articulating capital allocation, control environments, and supply-chain governance.
Sources
- OECD announcement of the revised Principles
- Revised G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (2023)
Zeph Tech’s governance diagnostics align ownership, disclosure, and risk controls with the 2023 Principles for clients listing across OECD and emerging markets.