Imagine that you are a C-suite leader, fast-rising business executive, non-executive director, new trainee or business school student, and you have just realized that everyone is talking about this thing called "ESG" or "sustainability." You think it is probably very important, and hope it is morally beneficial - but since it flies in the face of what you were taught at college about "business", you are unsure what it all means. Plus, you hate acronyms - and activists such as Greta Thunberg make you feel very nervous.

So how do I work out what this ESG means? Is it for real? Or just posturing? Will it last? And what are the top five steps that business leaders need to take, or know about, if they want to be able to make sense of this new trend?

The business of doing 'good' business. Paul Polman provides insight into the role that business should play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable society.

Paul Polman provides insight into the role that business should play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable society.

The business of doing 'good' business

The audit profession never used to be viewed as a source of activism - or even social good. Today, however, audit and reporting issues are at center stage in the ESG movement, as it is becoming increasingly hard for any company to dismiss such factors when they describe the "value" in their entities. In addition, new frameworks are emerging that enable companies to report and audit with an ESG lens, many of which are likely to become mandatory. The transition is a confusing and opaque, not least because there are a host of competing standards with different acronyms. So what does a mainstream auditor, investor or business executive need to know about ESG accounting? What is TCFD, SASB, GRI - and the other bits of this alphabet soup? Is this just a fad? What, in other words, are the top five things that anyone who cares about corporate accounts must understand - and do?

Making sustainable accounting add up. What a mainstream auditor, investor or business executive needs to know about ESG accounting.

Mary Schapiro provides an overview of what a mainstream auditor, investor or business executive needs to know about ESG accounting.

Making sustainable accounting add up

For many years, law was not usually a word associated with ESG - or not in the corporate sphere. Ever since the economist Milton Friedman decreed that the purpose of a corporation is to serve shareholders alone - and Washington agencies defined fiduciary duty in finance as the search for returns - the legal framework has tended to give priority to financial metrics, not social and environmental ones. However, this is now changing - rapidly. Companies are facing a raft of ESG-linked legal risks; and they are increasingly using legal tools to advance ESG issues too.

But does this mean that lawyers need to reimagine corporate law? Is ESG even "legal"? How should laws be rewritten - or legal codes used to advance ESG norms? Is this just code for lawyers learning to get a conscience? What are the top five things that lawyers need to do and know today about ESG?

Toward fair and sustainable capitalism. How people who give legal advice to businesses can help businesses to be good citizens and make money the right way.

Leo Strine advises on how legal professionals can give good counsel to businesses and help them make money the right way.

Toward fair and sustainable capitalism

The 21st century is an era of radical digital transparency and customization in the world of consumer industries - and many young consumers are using those two trends to demand ESG-friendly products, particularly in the world of fashion, beauty, retail and food. But is it possible to really do this? Or is it just a marketing gimmick? What do companies today need to know about these shifting tastes - and what do consumers need to understand too? How does this impact supply chains, and our concept of "value" - and values.

Conscious consumerism. A unique overview of how consumers can impact businesses policies around ESG-friendly products in the world of fashion, beauty, retail and food.

Lily Cole gives an overview of how consumers can impact good business policies especially when it comes to using ESG-friendly products in fashion, beauty, retail and food.

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