The first rule of ESG: Don’t talk about ESG

How much should companies cower to the political pushback against all things ESG and, well, “woke”?

I’ve been pondering that question and talking to corporate sustainability professionals and communications experts to understand how companies are traversing this political-cultural moment. Are they pulling back on their sustainability commitments, maintaining their ambition but talking about it less, or damning the torpedoes and going full speed ahead?

The short answer: Companies are staying the course but mostly keeping their heads down.

First, some context. The pushback against companies’ environmental, social and governance strategy is relatively recent and has gained traction quickly, the product of the U.S. far-right wing’s highly effective echo chamber of cable news, podcasts, newsfeeds and social media sites.

ESG, of course, has been around for years and has gained considerable influence in how companies and investors communicate about sustainability and, increasingly, how business customers engage with companies on a range of social and environmental topics. ESG ratings have become mainstream, if flawed, and are baked into the risk calculations of banks, insurers and other financial institutions. As more companies began to organize around ESG metrics, ESG became a focus of policymakers, too.

“Conservatives have gone into beast mode to tar everything ESG with a single brush.“

Which is where things have heated up. As governments around the world crafted regulations requiring companies to disclose ESG metrics or that embed ESG criteria into procurement, investing and other activities, the topic became a lightning rod for conservatives.

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