Recent years have changed the way the world views sustainability and climate change. However, in this post-pandemic period, the “anti-ESG” movement in the USA also gained notoriety in the media, along with global supply chain disruptions, energy security risks, economic crises and reduced investments.
That's what he said Pedro Paro, founder and CEO of Humanizada, the first Brazilian multi-stakeholder evaluation company in ESG oriented to data intelligence. In his view, it seems that the enthusiasm for new directions has reduced – “which does not mean that we are experiencing a setback in the agenda, but rather, polishing processes”.
With this perspective in mind, theexecutive analyzed the main trends in this market for 2023, based on an analysis of 21 global articles and reports, published between December and January this year.
In this study, we identified 36 trends mentioned, from the possible growth of the anti-ESG movement to the strengthening of standards and regulations, with 4,8% and 71,4% of citations, respectively.
From a global perspective, there are more companies and experts concerned with improving regulation than with going backwards with the sustainability agenda.
The following graph illustrates the 12 main mapped points (out of a total of 36 themes identified), evaluating a global perspective on ESG.
Chart analysis
Based on the data collected, Paro stated that it is possible to observe the strengthening of standards and regulations (71,4%). “This movement is partly due to UK companies, who seem to be taking the reins in this debate.”
“Last year, the first draft of a new disclosure structure for the next mandatory climate reports was prepared and this should provide guidance for each region to build their own conscious target models”, he pointed out.
With all these regulations and public authorities pushing for changes, what is expected, according to him, is that there will be greater investment in the sector in the course of 2023. “In fact, we can observe this trend through the perspectives that the market itself has ”.
An example of this is the “ESG Radar 2023 Report”, recently published by Infosys, a digital consultancy and services company. The document brings an expectation that investments in ESG in organizations should reach US$53 trillion by the year 2025, that is, one third of global assets under management.
“In this regard, a blind spot that we identified when analyzing trends in ESG is the absence of topics related to corporate education, leadership development on the agenda and the formation of an organizational culture oriented towards sustainability”, reported the expert.
“As long as organizations do not have leadership and a culture capable of driving and sustaining the ESG agenda, the tendency is for us to live with cases of greenwashing, and not be able to achieve the results we desire as businesses and humanity”, he highlighted.
“In any case, analyzes indicate that ESG is in fact taking shape in the corporate world, with companies increasingly engaged in environmental and social solutions, being something that takes root not only in corporations but also in government and society as a whole” , concluded the CEO and Founder of Humanizados.
More about the author
Pedro Paro is also a researcher at the University of São Paulo and wants to change the system by combating greenwashing by creating the first ESG rating in Brazil. Furthermore, he is a scholar at the Change and Innovation Management Group at USP, a member of the World Economic Forum and has worked with more than 400 organizations.
