Top US companies walk fine line on climate amid competing pressures—Financial Times

In a recent Financial Times article, Farient Advisors’ latest research revealed how top U.S. companies are adjusting their public climate narratives in response to political and regulatory pressure. While 71% of the 50 largest companies by market capitalization remain committed to their climate goals, many have dialed back public-facing updates—signaling a strategic shift in language rather than substance.

Farient’s Sustainability Practice Leader Brian Bueno provided expert insight on the trend: “Companies are being careful about where they put out their messaging around their environmental or climate efforts. They’re sharing less information than they would otherwise.”

Despite scaling back ESG language—such as Google’s removal of “ESG” and “core values” references from its filings—companies are largely staying the course on their sustainability goals. Bueno’s analysis underscores a new era of corporate discretion, where maintaining stakeholder trust means balancing transparency with political sensitivity.

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About Brian Bueno

Sustainability Practice Leader, Farient Advisors/GECN Group, New York

New York
(646) 626-6929
brian.bueno@farient.com

Brian Bueno is the Sustainability Practice Leader at Farient Advisors. In this role, Brian guides the firm’s strategy, research, and analysis on sustainability and corporate governance matters. Brian focuses on the still-evolving sustainability landscape and its intersection with executive compensation and incentives in order to assist clients in understanding stakeholder considerations and developing and implementing appropriate programs that help create stakeholder value.

Prior to re-joining Farient in 2022, Brian was Vice President and product manager at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a leading proxy advisory firm, where he led the development of solutions that assist institutional investors in evaluating executive compensation and related areas at their portfolio companies across global markets. Additionally, at ISS’s Corporate Solutions arm, Brian led the creation and management of product platforms that allow companies to benchmark themselves across executive compensation and ESG topics.

Prior to joining ISS in 2015, Brian worked at Farient, where he managed the development and delivery of Farient’s Performance Alignment Reports and associated research, including analyses on executive pay definitions and financial performance metrics and their link to shareholder value. At Farient, Brian also worked with clients across various industries, including energy, industrials, banking, and insurance. And before Farient, Brian held a market research role involved in identifying opportunities and risks in particular industries and communicating findings to clients and media.

Brian holds a BS from the University of Southern California’s (USC) Marshall School of Business with a triple concentration in finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

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