It is difficult to overstate how quickly the environmental agenda is moving. It can seem as if every month we have new regulation or legislation, every week there's a huge new market development and every day another net-zero commitment from a large company.

These commitments are turning into real world action in the private sector (take a look at what's happening in the Oil & Gas sector as an example with Exxon, Shell, Chevron or at BP's targets).

But the speed of change is not as quick in the social space of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), even though social issues have been in the spotlight over the past year as a result of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests (and going back further, the #MeToo movement).

How to accelerate the S in ESG

In our report, written with the International Regulatory Strategy Group, and working with International standard setters (including GRI, SASB) and other institutional bodies (including UN PRI, OECD, IMP), which focuses on the financial services sector, we have:

• identified key market trends that have brought social issues to the forefront and highlighted the growing impact of socially sustainable business
• discussed the challenges which are holding back progress, including the lack of consistency in the different methods for measuring, managing and reporting social impacts
• provided clarity on some leading measurement frameworks and principles and considered how these can be used to effect change
• made recommendations as to how public policy, companies and financial markets participants can all work to achieve better social standards.

Read the full report here or alternatively the executive summary provides an overview.
 

If you?d like to discuss the content of the report or how it may relate to your business, please reach out to us:

Marija Davic, Director, Financial Services Consulting, KPMG in the UK

Joe Crotty, Senior Consultant, KPMG in the UK