What is ESG?
The initials ESG stand for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It’s not just another financial term. It’s the framework used to measure how responsible a company is toward the world around it: not only how much it earns, but how its profit affects the planet, people and its own core values.
In recent years, ESG has become the new “must-have” in the business world. Investors, organizations, and even consumers seem to prefer companies aligned with sustainability values. Yet behind this polished surface lies a difficult question: Are we witnessing a genuine shift in mindset—or just another PR gimmick?
The Need Behind the Slogan
The rise of ESG didn’t happen by chance. It is the product of an era in which societies no longer tolerate businesses without a moral compass. The climate crisis, economic inequalities, labor scandals, and social injustices are all exerting pressure for accountability.
ESG seeks to fill this gap by introducing rules of responsibility into the toughest arena of the economy. In theory, a company with a high ESG score respects the environment, invests in its people and operates with transparency and resilience. In practice, however, reality often falls short of the ideal.
From Substance to Showcase
The voluntary nature of ESG criteria and the lack of unified standards have opened the door to misleading practices. In essence, any company can craft its own ESG narrative—choosing what to measure and how to present it.
As a result, we’ve seen the flourishing of an “ESG market”: specialized consultants, PR teams, and reports filled with colorful graphics, photos, and metrics that are rarely subject to independent verification. ESG has become more of a corporate image-polishing tool than a vehicle for meaningful reform.
Critics already speak of “ESG-washing”—a modern form of whitewashing. It’s telling that major oil, airline, or fast fashion companies present themselves as “leaders in social responsibility,” even as they generate pollution, overwork their employees or reject genuine accountability.
ESG as a Tool of Power
Behind the glossy charts and promises, ESG also operates as a mechanism of power. It determines who gains access to investment capital and who is excluded, which rules are labeled “ethical” and which are ignored. Yet the decisions about what counts as “responsible” are often made behind closed doors, without transparency or meaningful democratic oversight.
The issue isn’t just whether ESG has substance, but who holds the keys to it. Without clear standards and independent audits, it risks remaining an attractive slogan—with no real power to change corporate practices.
What Remains, Then?
ESG is necessary. It points in the right direction: that entrepreneurship must carry responsibility. But it is still immature. For many companies, its adoption feels more like a box-ticking exercise than a conscious transformation.
If we want to speak of substance, we need:
• Formal institutional adoption of ESG rules,
• Independent audits and transparency,
• Civil society participation in setting the criteria,
• And, above all, political will to move from marketing to action.
Until then, we should remain cautious: behind many “green” logos may hide nothing more than the old system in new clothes.
The question is not what businesses promise, but what we are prepared to demand of them.