ESG: sustainability put into systems.
What the three letters cover, and why it's spreading
ESG has become a central concept in many companies. It is about describing and documenting how the company handles its impact on the environment and people and how it is led. The abbreviation covers three dimensions.
§The three dimensions
Environmental (environment)
Is about the company's impact on climate and environment: energy consumption, emissions, waste, water consumption and use of resources.
Social (social conditions)
Is about people: employees' working conditions and safety, diversity, and how the company affects local communities and suppliers.
Governance (management and control)
Is about how the company is managed: responsible management, transparency, ethics and corruption prevention.
§Why is data becoming so important?
To document ESG requires data: how much energy was used, how much waste was sorted, what does sick leave look like. This means that recording becomes part of many employees' daily work. Reliable data is the prerequisite for a company to show real progress rather than loose claims.
§Greenwashing — beware of empty promises
Greenwashing is when something is presented as more sustainable than it really is. It is countered by building statements on documented data and by being honest about both progress and challenges. Credibility comes from action, not from fine words.
For the individual employee ESG means especially that daily recording and behaviour actually becomes part of a bigger picture — and that care with data and resources has value far beyond one's own workplace.