The U.S. has joined a list of mostly emerging-market countries where ESG supply-chain risks are “high,” after the world’s richest economy failed to provide adequate protections for vulnerable populations including migrant children, according to a fresh study.
The U.S. saw its ranking decline on almost all metrics, according to an analysis published Wednesday by Elevate, an ESG advisory and analytics company that’s owned by LRQA, which sits in the investment arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The authors of the Elevate report said they found it “especially concerning” that the deterioration registered in U.S. scores was tied to the “most severe forms of ESG risk,” such as those relating to the treatment of children. In last year’s ranking, the U.S. posed a “medium” supply-chain risk in the Elevate scale, which has four levels spanning “low” to “extreme.”
