ESG is an acronym for "Environmental," "Social," and "Governance." Environmental criteria may include a company’s energy use, waste, pollution, natural resource conservation, and treatment of animals. Social criteria examine how it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.
Climate change: carbon emissions (see graph), product carbon footprint, financing environmental impact, climate change vulnerability
Natural resources: water stress, biodiversity & use, raw material sourcing
Pollution & waste: toxic emissions & waste, packaging material & waste, electronic waste
Environmental opportunities: opportunities in clean tech, opportunities in green building, opportunities in renewable energy
Human capital: labor management, human capital development, health & safety, supply chain labour standards
Product liability: product safety & quality, chemical safety, financial product safety, privacy & data security, responsible investment (see link below), health & demographic risk
Stakeholder opposition: controversial sourcing
Social opportunities: access to finance, access to communications, access to healthcare, opportunities in health & nutrition, access to education (see graph)
Corporate governance: board diversity (see graph), executive pay, ownership & control, accounting
Corporate behavior: business ethics, anti competitive practices, tax transparency, corruption & instability, financial system instability
