This guide is The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland’s attempt to provide some clarity to the world of ESG, regardless of in which type of organisation or sector the reader works.

ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance. It refers to the way in which an organisation manages its impacts on, risks related to, and opportunities arising from, environmental, social and governance issues.

With ESG-related issues being at the top of the list of priorities for many organisations, the breadth of the topic can make it difficult to navigate effectively. We have collated our ESG resources on one page to help you keep up to date with the latest developments.

This paper seeks to outline the rise of environmental, social (or sustainability1) and governance factors (ESG) in the commercial sector and explain how they will become increasingly relevant to modern charities. It covers the drive behind the increasing use of ESG factors in investment decisions, reputational risks, environmental awareness amongst consumers and clients and the need to attract talent with different motivations to work.

In this podcast Daniel Roach, Senior Technical Lead at Company Matters, discusses the latest developments in ESG reporting.

In this podcast Susan Stenson, a partner at Independent Audit, discusses the impact that environment, social and governance (ESG) issues are having in the boardroom. She outlines the importance of linking these areas back to the overall purpose and strategy of the organisation to enable directors to understand which issues they should focus on and how they should communicate their approach to their stakeholders. Susan outlines how governance lays the foundations for a strong response to ESG issues from boards of directors. She also argues that if the board is honest about how it has decided its ESG priorities, its approach is much more likely to be successful.

With a broad coalition of interests coalescing around the ESG banner, there are many reasons to support boards in developing their ESG understanding and decisions to improve relevant ESG-related activities.

Boards that act now in framing their ESG issues will be ahead of the curve in terms of the effective delivery of new products and services in established and new formats and ongoing sustainability.

The Next Generation NED Network held a lively and wide-ranging discussion on ESG – and particularly, the role of NEDs in steering their businesses through this seemingly ever-changing landscape. There were a variety of viewpoints and areas of expertise spanning finance, communications and academia.