With ESG constantly in the headlines, many companies are struggling with how to talk about it with their stakeholders. Our latest research with Penn State indicates Republican and Democratic voters both believe certain ESG components, such as climate mitigation, are tied to their financial fortunes. Based on our findings, companies should consider shifting away from the broad term, ESG, and focusing on the specific areas that voters and lawmakers care about.
ESG is an investment framework that weighs corporate action to de-risk materially relevant Environmental, Social, and Governance business areas. Research has shown for some time that voters don’t understand ESG. However, surveying Americans on its components, particularly related to investments and the role of government in them, it turns out ESG might just be misunderstood.
