What RoboDebt, Hayne and Rio Tinto tell us about ESG’s limits
The reason today’s senior executives are ‘shy’ about ESG is that their efforts have not prevented major scandals. The accompanying rows have been reputationally corrosive, giving the impression that ESG is a top-down effort coming from their board to seduce and deceive.
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards embody a sense of the ethical norms we desire for our businesses and public bodies. They have remained unchanged, measuring possible harm to society and the environment.
But ESG norms are facing strong headwinds today. All around – from banking, social services and mining to universities, aviation and gambling – there is a worry that institutions that are committed publicly to pursuing ESG goals are either poor at doing so, cynically virtue signalling, or dangerously distracted by imposed agendas.
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Shamit Saggar heads the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success at Curtin University and was a former senior official in the UK Blair Government.
