“We Said What?”
ESG statements in press releases, the company website and other marketing can be costly to the company and its reputation.
In the three and a half years since a group of CEOs signed onto Business Roundtable’s commitments to put communities, the environment and other stakeholders on equal footing with investors, those seemingly harmless pledges have become compliance, securities and political perils.
The emphasis on ESG has led to a variety of corporate actions — some vague, some specific. Companies have engaged in a race to be included in ESG investment funds, often with incomprehensible or nonsensical criteria for inclusion.
