"No one can predict the future but if ESG as a concept fails because we were not ready for it, it speaks a lot for our collective concern since it was one attempt to push back the ugly & fearsome creatures that escaped from the Pandora's box of high unsustainable growth built on the illusion of limitless consumer demand".
Environmental, Social & Governance investing refers to a criteria for socially conscious investors for screening potential investments in certain companies.
ESG began in the 1960s with investors excluding stocks or entire industries from their portfolios based on certain criteria like tobacco production & apartheid.
These criteria were modified by an United Nations report in 2004 claiming that companies should also take care of environmental & social work also.
Recently the ESG debate seems ignited by Budweiser's, the beer company having burnt its fingers by featuring a transgender influencer on a Bud Light can.
Although some say it was more an marketing failure, there is a strong school of opinion which thinks that the company's ad managers acted on the ESG agenda.
Investment advisors like Blackrock still promote sustainable investing options but there are reports that their CEO Larry Fink has distanced himself from ESG.
There are strong and shrill voices like Cory Morgan who decry the entire concept stating that "ESG is finally going into the corporate dustbin where it belongs".
Trends may come and trends may go but a good opinion never goes out of style and THE SECOND OPINION will continue to be a sane voice amidst vast change.
Comments