ESG Standards are TBD in Health Promotion: What the ESG Movement can Learn From the Workforce Wellness Movement

Abstract

Large organizations produce annual shareholder reports that tout their business success, and many also describe their role in doing well by their employees and communities. What if systemic efforts to improve employee and community health were a reporting requirement on par with the reporting of profits, losses and liquidity? This editorial examines the nascent ESG movement and its potential role in sparking systems changes that improve individual and organizational health. ESG is an acronym for the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards that many investment fund managers are considering as a component of evaluating company performance. Today, assessing investments that factor in health alongside other business success measures is commonplace but, recently, ESG factors have become political fodder. How is it that there is growing acceptance of corporate social responsibility principles among business leaders but a growing opposition to ESG standards by many politicians who otherwise identify as pro-business?