The Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria or ESG as it is often referred to are a set of standards created to measure a company’s operations. With the recent focus on the triple bottom line and corporate social responsibility investors are looking for a way to differentiate companies. Using the ESG criteria a potential investor can screen potential investments by determining a company’s sustainable practices. Investors turn to this tool also to avoid the tangible risks associated with unsustainable social responsibility such as the BP Oil spill or #metoo accusations of Guess.
Further augmenting the ability to concretely measure social responsibility found in ESG criteria is the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) materiality map. The SASB is a foundation created to facilitate open communication between socially responsible companies and investors. On their website they have created an interactive map that matches ESG criteria with individual industry concerns. Using this tool companies in different industries now have an accounting tool that will help them report on the most relevant ESG criteria.
Together these tools help make Corporate Social Responsibility more accessible and transparent.
To learn more, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental,_social_and_corporate_governance