The other elements of ESG: it is not just about ‘E’

It is now almost 20 years since the term ESG – standing for environmental, social and corporate governance – was first coined and it has now grown from a corporate social responsibility initiative launched by the United Nations into a global phenomenon.

ESG is an umbrella term that refers to frameworks designed to be integrated into an organisation's strategy to create enterprise value by expanding the organisations objectives to include the identification, assessment and management of sustainability-related risks and opportunities in respect to all organisational stakeholders (including but not limited to customers, suppliers and employees) and the environment.

However, the focus to date and has more heavily fallen on the first letter of the acronym, but there is much more to delivering on ESG promises than solely looking at the environment, even if that is a worthy cause. Businesses need to ensure that in the fog of environmental strategies that they are not forgetting about social and corporate governance initiatives.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethically oriented practices.

CSR is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. By practicing CSR, also called corporate citizenship, companies can be conscious of the kind of impact they are having on all aspects of society, including economic, social, and environmental.

CSR helps both improve various aspects of society as well as promote a positive brand image of companies. But how can the corporate travel industry ensure it meets each of the elements of ESG?