Supporting and Surviving ESG in 2021 as a Marketer

There seems to exist a silent, mutual understanding between investors and an investees that their foremost goal and main obligation should be to maximize the short-term returns for all the stakeholders – “no matter what”. Regardless for other factors like the social and environmental impacts their decision has on the globe.

ESG is replacing that “no matter what”.

Environmental, Social and Governance has become a mantra used by investors and shareholders in order to screen and assess a company’s impact on the world before they make the decision to invest.

If the right strategies of ESG are not adopted by your company, it will impact how you will be able to gather and also retain funding from investors. Especially those who are adamant about having a socially responsible investment strategy for their investments.

In response to the rising concerns over how irresponsible investments are impacting the social conditions of the people across the globe, EU markets as well as U.S. markets  have started to consider making ESG a part of shareholder’s fiduciary duty.

So, a truthful brand will only focus on quality web pages that appear as per the customer’s web search intent and not non-compliant, forced, irrelevant and non-deceptive experiences that have hidden information that was never showcased in that attractive advertisement. When one can realize that this shortcut may harm a financial institution in the longer run, it is no more a necessary evil, but an angel to be embraced.

The key in succeeding with ESG is by viewing it as a journey, not a destination.

Due to highly competitive markets, the key reason for a lack in social awareness or their impact on the world is because of how we treat markets, similar to a Formula One race: Our focus was on how fast we can drive but not on how we conduct ourselves on the racetrack, how much pollution we release into the airor how we can reduce the damage to the track or the car that we’re driving in.

Therefore, to impress this particular segment of socially conscious investors, it is highly necessary to maintain a high ESG rating, which will look at how you are conducting your business operations on a day-to-day basis and not just how much money your company is making.

A few factors that may help you retrospect the actions that you take on things like:

• Climate change which includes Greenhouse gas emissions.
• How does the company plan to reduce its water usage?
• When it comes to your social criteria, it comes down to: the labour standards, the health and safety performance of the employees, and the way the company treats its employees and customers.
• In the governance criteria, it’s all about the company’s leadership: how well it reduces the anti-corruption measures, what are the tax transparency levels, and what is the efficiency of the education board in the process of decision-making?

There are four key ways that you can prepare yourself for the environmental social and governance standards:

• Ability to adapt
• Be fully regulation compliant
• Take effort to be part of an economy that promotes innovation
• Uphold a positive brand image in the ever unpredictable social media age

These are some of the long-term benefits that other organizations will have by adapting to the ESG best practices.