what is esg

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is a set of standards used to assess a companys behavior and performance on various sustainability and ethical issues. ESG investing refers to a set of standards for a company's behavior used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments. The goal of ESG is to capture all the non-financial risks and opportunities that companies face. ESG criteria consider how well public companies safeguard the environment and the communities where they work, and how they ensure management and corporate governance meet high standards. ESG investing is a term that is often used interchangeably with sustainable investing, socially responsible investing, mission-related investing, or screening. The ESG movement has grown from a corporate social responsibility initiative launched by the United Nations into a global phenomenon representing more than US$30 trillion in assets under management.