Investors are increasingly using Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors to analyze organizations they choose to invest in. 

Environmental factors essentially focus on how a corporation behaves as a guardian of the environment. 

Social factors focus on how the company deals with its suppliers, employees, consumers, and the communities in which the business functions. 

The leadership of a corporation, CEO remuneration, internal controls, shareholder rights, and audits are all covered under Governance.

Sustainable investing that upholds all the ESG criteria has been rapidly growing. Here are the top 3 ESG investing trends to look out for in 2022.

Watch: The benefits of ESG investing

ICarbon net-zero rather than offsetting footprints

While several businesses have made significant progress in decreasing their carbon footprint and deploying offsetting carbon strategies to reach carbon neutrality, scientists and activists are concerned that these initiatives may not be enough to prevent a future climate crisis. 

Several additional measures must be taken to reverse or reduce carbon emissions to the lowest level attainable. 

Carbon net-zero companies would be expected to make substantial progress in genuine carbon footprint reduction or elimination within their operations and supply chains, with offsetting strategies being used only as of the last choice.

Accountability rather than transparency

Customers, community leaders, and policymakers have all demanded more disclosure about how businesses operate and what methods they plan to deploy in the future, so the concept of transparency has been prevalent in recent years. 

However, while transparency has been widely appreciated, it’s not enough anymore. Activists of all kinds are demanding that companies be held accountable for their actions and prove that they are indeed moving towards carbon net-zero rather than simply offsetting their carbon footprint. Therefore, transparency can only be seen as the first step for businesses to hold complete accountability and truly eliminate their carbon footprint across their operations and supply chain.

In addition, increasing stakeholders want businesses to publish accurate results rather than mere promises. Companies will continue facing increased expectations for accountability, and the volume and relevance of third-party auditors will continue to increase.

Assessments automation for accurate reporting

Businesses can use an automated evaluation tool to bring their ESG goals into reality. Automation provides tools for estimating greenhouse gas emissions, publishing disclosures, risk assessments, and climate risk analytics, in addition to managing a significant portion of their ESG workload.

By automating ESG assessment, companies can do better in the following areas:

·       Identify environmental, social, and Governance opportunities and hazards that affect your corporate structure, capital assets, and distribution network.

·       By promptly recognizing possible ESG concerns, you can cut transaction time and costs.

·       Stay on top of your ESG Program’s performance.

·       Identify possibilities for improving the ESG program well in advance and potentially reduce costs.

·       Streamline ESG reporting processes to attract investors.

The bottom line

Sustainable investing continues to be a growing trend in 2022. The most important trends for businesses to consider this year are eliminating their carbon footprint instead of only offsetting it and being accountable for their actions rather than transparent about their practices.

Automating ESG assessments can also be crucial in providing accurate data to stakeholders while also providing data to the businesses to improve their ESG performance.