Tracking ESG metrics

The Harvard Business Review just published an article entitled, How Tracking ESG Metrics Can Help Reduce Costs and Build Supply-Chain Resilience.  Coincidently, Osprey ESG has developed software to help track ESG metrics, which may have been why this article caught my eye.  From the article… “It’s no longer about whether your organization has ESG goals. Today the question is, how much progress have you made in implementing your ESG strategy?”  Much like Elon Musk, the author Rafiq Merchant, seems to think that you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Not only would it be helpful to implement software to help track ESG metrics, if written correctly, the software should connect those coordinating your organizations ESG efforts with employees that are responsible for measuring and improving various ESG efforts around the company.  The key to the success of an ESG program, in my humble opinion, is to create an interconnected network of everything that impacts ESG to enable tracking and improvement.  It’s genius I tell you.

Someone thinks we need more politics in ESG

The Environment and Energy Leader website published an article suggesting we add our first letter to ESG.  I knew this was coming and there will be more in the future.  They think that ESG should add geopolitics to ESG… ESGG.  Under the guise of “Never leave well enough alone” they not only think that ESG is not enough but we need more politics in ESG.  Every acronym that becomes popular attracts freeloaders who can’t get traction for their cause so they hook their wagon to relevant causes by adding their letter to the popular acronym.  It’s the people trying to advance their political causes that are bringing negative reactions to ESG.  ESG is about companies improving their environmental, social and governance structure to strengthen their company. It’s not about your perspectives on politics. 

Anti ESG efforts

There is a great deal of ESG news lately decrying ESG.  As is occasionally the case, the news folks have presented an overly dramatic perspective about recent legislation relating to ESG.  They imply that some people are completely against everything ESG related as opposed to what most of the concern is related to… forcing investment managers (particularly pension managers) to pick highly rated ESG stocks.  Freedom to invest as you see fit seems to me to be a reasonable request.  However, the way the press is spinning it, the current ESG pushback is an attempt to stop all efforts to make the world a better place from an environmental, social and company governance standpoint.  And that is wrong.

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