ESG is alive and well despite global pandemic and economic crisis

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, many questioned whether the global health crisis and resulting economic turmoil would result in climate change and other ESG issues being relegated to the back burner as businesses and economies worldwide focused on survival.

In fact, what we have seen is the exact opposite. Both Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement have acted as an “ESG accelerant”, shining a brighter light on the “S” in ESG in particular (including worker safety, diversity and inclusion, supply chains, and corporate purpose and values). Climate change is also holding strong on the agenda, with the EU in particular and global investors more widely not easing up on climate engagement.

We are also seeing repeated calls for Covid-19 economic recovery packages across the world to be linked to climate change and wider sustainability and social objectives in order to “build back better”. And to do that, the financial sector and corporates alike are having to design a brand new playbook to define the “glue” that holds it all together – i.e. corporate culture, purpose and values. Welcome to the global ESG Reset.

For more information on:

• Covid-19-related issues, see our Covid-19 Hub. 
• How ESG is developing at different speeds across the globe, see our publication: Revolution vs Evolution: The ESG landscape and opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Corporate culture, purpose and values, see our Culture Hub.
• Supply chain issues, see our ESG-related supply chain issues blog post and ESG in supply chains webinar. 
• Climate change issues, see our Road to net zero webinar.
• Diversity and inclusion, see our blog post: Addressing ethnicity and gender inequalities – recent developments in pay gap reporting. 
• Investment opportunities, see our blog post: Green recovery in sight as one in four infrastructure funds expect to grow green assets more than a fifth by 2022.
• Other ESG issues, visit our ESG practice page.