Below is a link to a research report I have co-authored with PwC’s ESG team which finds that ESG has ‘mainstreamed’ many of the concepts and practices of issues and reputation management.

https://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/esg/reputation-management-in-era-of-esg.html

To give you a flavour, here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary.

“ESG has had a major catalysing effect on reputation management, bringing good practice in from the sidelines to the centre of business strategy and activity. As the paper outlines, it is also creating better issues management governance, changing the stakeholder conversation and evolving the communications function.

Both through soft interventions (the rapidly changing social dialogue) and hard interventions (regulations, ratings and investment), ESG puts the focus on organisations doing good business. Organisations should evolve and improve in these areas, not only because it helps long-term profits and to meet regulatory compliance, but because it is in the interests of stakeholders and society at large. The two are intrinsically linked. Get ESG right, and you are well on your way to protecting and enhancing your reputation. Get it wrong, and you can damage your brand and erode stakeholder trust in your organisation.

Most encouragingly, we picked up a general positivity about ESG and its effect on organisations and beyond. Whilst it comes with risks, like greenwashing, which need to be identified and managed, it is viewed generally as a positive development. As with anything that helps organisations focus on their key asset – their reputation – this is to be wholeheartedly welcomed.”