The concept of ESG has turned into a political/PR hot potato some executive teams don’t want to be seen handling. But many of the practices underpinning the push toward tighter standards are being adopted and embedded across the business world because they are, as Oxford Impact Collaborative co-founder Juliana Hess told me last year, “a way to build an ironclad business that isn’t cutting corners.”

Cases in point: Textile maker Milliken & Co. cutting PFAS from its operations or Emerson chopping its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by a whopping 42% in just five years. The opportunities are there to run businesses more cleanly, more efficiently and more equitably; it’s up to leaders to decide whether they then want to decorate those smart business moves with ESG credentials.

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– Geert De Lombaerde