Hogan Lovells continues ESG collaborations by partnering with GenderSmart's JEDI Initiative

JEDI focuses on catalysing the incorporation of gender, racial and ethnic justice into global sustainable finance and investment decisions within public and private markets. Its mission is aligned with Hogan Lovells commitment to Diversity & Inclusion and Responsible Business, a strategic priority for the firm.

Hogan Lovells will provide pro bono legal advice as well as a financial donation to JEDI, and the two organisations will collaborate to share and produce information and resources to educate and empower the market to embed these important ESG issues into business-as-usual practice. This will include hosting events for their combined networks. 

Sukhvir Basran, Co-Head of Hogan Lovells Sustainable Finance & Investment, has been appointed to the JEDI Steering Committee, and Global Head of Finance, Insurance and Investment, Sharon Lewis, will join the working group. Sukhvir spoke at the GenderSmart Investing Summit, of which Hogan Lovells were Quantum sponsors, earlier this year. 

The Summit was also the launchpad for Aurora: The Gender Lens Project, a collaboration between Hogan Lovells and the 2X Challenge involving the research and development of a toolkit of legal standard terms and conditions for Gender Lens Investing (GLI). 

Creating strong, strategic partnerships and collaborations to drive change, develop the market and mobilise capital is at the core of Hogan Lovells Sustainable Finance & Investment’s mission and strategy. Also, this year the firm has entered into an ESG Partnership with the European Leveraged Finance Association (ELFA), becoming ELFA’s legal adviser on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance matters; and with the Italian Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana) on its Sustainable Finance programme.

Commenting, Sukhvir said: “Hogan Lovells has long collaborated with clients to support projects and enterprises that promote positive Environmental, Social and Governance impact. In the Diversity & Inclusion space, gender, race & ethnicity, LGBTQ+, and disability are key areas of focus for us globally. Together with GenderSmart and JEDI we can really help shift the needle from the interest we’re increasingly seeing in ESG in the financial markets to action, and support investors to embed Diversity & Inclusion within mainstream, sustainable finance and decision making.”

A core part of the firm’s wider ESG offering, Hogan Lovells Sustainable Finance & Investment  provides clients with best-in-market support in this mission-critical area, helping them to stay ahead in this rapidly evolving sector through delivering innovative, efficient and scalable solutions to the challenges facing the sustainable finance economy.

GenderSmart Co-Founder Suzanne Biegel shared, “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Hogan Lovells around our diversity and inclusion investment work. Their leadership in the space and within this initiative has been critical to date, and we look forward to more collaboration to come.”