And it is that despite the evolution that social responsibility has had in recent decades, unfortunately for many it is still an accessory issue, which is well regarded, and which contributes to corporate reputation but which does not end up massively transforming the models private sector business (despite the great progress achieved in some cases); Faced with this, ESG models have the advantage of articulating environmental, social and governance issues with the financial perspective of the business, to quantify it and influence the evaluations and ratings made of the company.
We can also see it in the new approaches to carry out materiality studies of companies, where not only the sustainability approach is considered, but also the financial one, when speaking of a double materiality, which allows identifying economic issues, most relevant or significant social and environmental factors for the company due to their impacts in these areas. Also the risks that these issues present for the viability and financial continuity of the business in the short, medium and long term.
This allows for a snapshot and, consequently, a more complete and comprehensive evaluation of the company’s performance and its future prospects. It is essential to have information, data and evidence on ESG from the transparency and accountability processes that many companies, especially large ones, carry out through the publication of sustainability reports or equivalent documents, as well as participation in rankings, audits, recognitions and indices in this matter.
Despite the fact that the road is still long, at an international level there are interesting efforts to start regulating this presentation of information under certain guidelines, standards, regulations and initiatives that seek to standardize the practice or establish criteria and/or minimum requirements in terms of ESG , aligned with the main reference frameworks in terms of sustainability, which were already being used from the perspective of social responsibility.
