While CSR has gone unnoticed for decades, ESG has become a political target. CSR was a call for wealthy business leaders to do more. ESG is a call for business leaders to speak up and do more.
A few raise fears and misplaced concerns about companies that pursue policies and programs to care for the environment, adopt socially aware company practices and implement robust governance structures. These concepts are known as ESG — environment, social, and governance.
From CSR to ESG
Before ESG was CSR — corporate social responsibility. CSR is still around but isn’t taking the blows like ESG. The CSR idea started when wealthy individuals like Carnegie encouraged other wealthy business leaders to give away their wealth. Later, one company formed a community foundation to address local and societal needs. Check out the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals for a deeper history.
CSR has evolved from those early days to enabling volunteer days, giving money to community organizations, and advancing internal practices to implement green manufacturing and other environmental programs.
Today, ESG is deeper than CSR. By including governance, the idea of measuring results matters. Tangible results matter when addressing environmental and social concerns. While still developing…
