Oxford’s Eccles, who was also the founding chairman of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, defends the concept of ESG, even if he thinks the label has run its course.
Instead, he says he’s happy to talk about “material risk factors.”
“I know it’s a boring term, but it’s accurate,” he said. “We never have to say whether they’re an E, S or G issue. We can say we’re talking about carbon emissions or labor practices.”
In their report on the merits of ESG, analysts at McKinsey argue that while the acronym “may have lost some of its luster, its underlying proposition remains essential at the level of principle. Names will come and go…but we believe that the importance of the underlying ideas has not peaked.”
Source: ‘Hating ESG’: Advocates Rethink Sustainable Label as Culture Wars, DeSantis Bite – Bloomberg