How to Bring ESG Into the Quarterly Earnings Call

Stop treating environmental, social, and governance strategies as a sidebar and integrate them into regular financial reporting.

• Why should these calls emphasize short-term profit-taking over long-term investments in employees, research and development, and sustainability, given that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have direct, material effects on how well companies succeed in the long run?

• On quarterly earnings calls, companies may be playing to analysts who they assume don’t care about ESG. CEOs often say that analysts do not ask for ESG information; analysts say that if the CEOs are not providing it, ESG issues mustn’t be material to the business. Wherever the blame lies, the effect has been limited discussion and disclosure of ESG themes.

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