Sustainable development was coined by

We have been hearing about environmental, social and governance (ESG) in our boardrooms and in the corporate governance reports, webinars, press and blogs. I thought it would be helpful to share a brief history of ESG, where it started and what have been the many parts of the topic to try and bring some clarity. I share the research and learnings so we can demystify ESG and either begin, continue, or decide how our boards may want to address and respond to ESG. ESG issues were first mentioned in the 2006 United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) report consisting of the Freshfield Report and “Who Cares Wins.” ESG criteria was, for the first time, required to be incorporated in the financial evaluations of companies. This effort was focused on further developing sustainable investments. At the time, 63 investment companies composed of asset owners, asset managers and service providers signed with $6.5 trillion in assets under management (AUM) incorporating ESG issues. As of June 2019, there are 2450 signatories representing over $80 trillion in AUM. During the 2017 proxy season, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) voted against the re-election of directors at 400 companies that SSGA said failed to make any significant effort to appoint women to their all-male boards. This came after the results of a global survey of 475 institutions that included private and public pension funds, endowments, foundations and official institutions. As reported by Another exa...

Week 1 Introduction of Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) What is Sustainability? Sustainability is a well-known and frequently used term of the 21st century. How often do you see or hear the word? Have you ever stopped to really think about what exactly does sustainability mean and where did the term originate from? A quick Google search for ‘what is sustainability’ yields over 1.9 billion results. Sustainability is widely defined as ‘the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level’. Embedded in most definitions of sustainability are concerns for the environment, social equity, and economic prosperity(1). Most definitions look to avoid the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance. Sustainability in the context of the environment looks at the activities required to balance social, economic, and environmental needs to maintain ecosystem services at a suitable level. It is generally accepted, the goals of sustainability are related to the need for the conservation of natural capital and ecosystem services, with a shift to a less resource-intensive future [1]. While to most, the concept of sustainability is a relatively new idea, sustainability has a long history of use and meaning. The practice of sustainability has been utilized by various cultures for thousands of years, with the term sustainability first used in the 1700’s. Sustainability comes from the practice of nachhaltigkeit, translate...