A Study on Recent Trends in Environmental, Social and Governance Goals of Global Corporates

Abstract

Environmental, Social and Governance more popularly known as ESG goals is fast gaining momentum and popularity across the globe. These goals not only define what the corporates are doing but also define how they should be expected to work. These goals find its source from the Sustainable Development Goals set by United Nations (UN) which prescribes certain commitments to be met by corporates while they carry out their business operations. The entire purpose is that while meeting the corporate goals, goals aimed at making the world a better place to live should also be kept in mind. Few countries have aligned these ESG goals with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy wherein they fulfill their social and other commitments through CSR activities. However, they both are quite different in its approach and execution. The simple reason for these ESG goals is that a business can never operate in isolation. It will always need the interaction and support from various social stakeholders. This research paper explains about various ESG goals that the corporates aim at achieving, what all has been done till now in the field of ESG and what all is yet to be done to make it more effective and popular. This research is based entirely on secondary data.