Why focus on ESG & Sustainability now?

Let’s Talk – Don Lowman

A lot of different constituents are asking companies, if not demanding of companies, to demonstrate how they view ESG and how they view the corporation or the organization's responsibility for making sure that they've got plans in place to address ESG effectively.

The pressure is coming from shareholders, investors, regulators, customers, employees and suppliers.

The pressure is coming because a lot of people are now realizing that the threats to the environment are real, climate change is real, that it is factual that different parts of the employee population have been treated differently when it comes to pay or when it comes to opportunities for advancement, and so I think that some companies will find they need to do it just to make sure they stay competitive. Other companies will do it because they think it's the right thing to do for the environment, for the population generally, and so they'll have all kinds of different reasons for doing it.

Those companies that decide that it’s not that important to make the investment, they’re going to suffer.

Leaders, and I would say boards, really need to have a serious conversation to start with about, “Where do we think we have vulnerability around ESG?"