(Expansión) – Much has been said about whether the acronym ESG (environmental, social and governance, in English) is the new way of referring to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Sustainability, however, the adoption of ESG factors , by itself, is not enough to transform the business model or the culture of the organization, so it is essential to focus on the management and comprehensive performance of the company in terms of CSR or Sustainability, which may include said ESG criteria.
In the first place, it is necessary to identify the risks, impacts (positive and negative) and opportunities in environmental, social and governance matters throughout all the company’s operations, those that it controls directly and those that occur throughout its value chain, in order to have a broad panorama that can be contrasted with the expectations of its stakeholders, in order to prioritize them.
From this, planning can be carried out to establish objectives, goals, strategies, actions and indicators that cover the most relevant sustainability issues.
When executing it is essential to be able to follow up on everything planned, measure progress and results and collect the necessary information and evidence, in order to later be able to make an evaluation and, if necessary, make the pertinent adjustments, to finally communicate all this in a transparency and accountability process.
In addition to this, work must be done on the creation of an organizational culture, which permeates these issues in a transversal way to all areas and levels, and that, based on codes, guidelines or policies, the appropriate incentives and mechanisms for their follow-up are implemented. and compliance, influencing the behavior of people, which will be a reflection of their daily actions and decision-making processes.
Here it should be noted that in addition to raising awareness among managers, employees, suppliers, partners, customers, etc., and the information that can be provided to them on these issues, training and continuous reinforcement play a fundamental role in achieving a culture socially responsible organization.
Without all of the above, the simple adoption of some ESG criteria remains at a basic or incipient level, and in some cases even with the risk of falling into the so-called “ ESG-washing ”, adding to a trend that is nothing more than “above”. , but without really committing to the transformation of the organization towards corporate sustainability.
This is certainly not achieved from one day to the next, but with daily progress towards a defined course that guides and serves as a parameter to analyze the performance of the organization not only in financial terms, but also from a CSR or sustainability perspective. .
It should also be borne in mind that there are various initiatives, methodologies and organizations for the measurement, evaluation and even ranking of companies based on ESG criteria, which are not necessarily comparable to each other, and that despite the significant advances that have had in recent years, still present areas of opportunity or questioning by authorities, regulators or investors who seek greater certainty or reliability of the data and evidence that are taken as a basis for these processes.
In this sense, it is convenient to analyze how far a company has advanced in the adoption of ESG criteria, since we could be surprised when we realize that it is only for certain processes or for some products or services, and not transversally to its model. business and organizational culture.
On the contrary, it can also be found that the company is in a process of continuous improvement in which it has managed to integrate these ESG factors as part of its CSR or corporate sustainability model, demonstrating a greater commitment to the subject.
Surely in the coming years we will continue to witness the evolution, integration or synergies that are taking place in the matter, due to the regulation, supervision and homologation that is beginning to be developed in different regions of the world.
Editor’s note: Jorge Reyes Iturbide is a specialist in corporate social responsibility and sustainable development and for 17 years has worked for various companies and national and international organizations on research projects, consulting, development of standards and executive education on the subject. He is currently Director of the IDEARSE Center of the Anahuac Mexico University. Follow him on and . The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
