Foreword
The concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investing emerged in the 1970s and was initially known as socially responsible investing — offering investors a way to align their portfolios with their values. The movement grew in the 1980s with international divestment campaigns against South Africa’s apartheid regime and eventually evolved into today’s corporate social responsibility initiatives. In the 1990s, ESG considerations began to appear in mainstream investing, and in the 2000s, global institutions created ESG principles and frameworks. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) first issued guidance on ESG investing in 2010, advising companies…
