Is ESG dead? Not quite – but it is having a midlife crisis

Looking at the public discourse on the subject of ESG (Environmental Social Governance), one notes a dramatic change in the debate from the USA and an increasingly negative connotation of the term. It also spills over to Europe.

Is ESG dead? Not quite – but it is having a midlife crisis

You would not be wrong to say that ESG investing has lost its shine. Media coverage has cooled and the backlash, particularly in the US, is louder than ever. With investors more focused on performance than purpose, some are asking whether ESG has quietly fallen off the bandwagon entirely.

ESG is dead. Long live ESG storytelling.

What ESG needs is better branding. Marianne O’Connor is CEO of Sterling Communications. Remember when every tech company couldn’t shut up about ESG? Environmental, social, governance — three magic words that made press releases sound responsible, forward-thinking, and vaguely European. Investors loved it, the media ate it up, and for a while, it seemed like companies that weren’t jumping on the ESG train were about to get left behind. Fast forwa…