The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) recently issued final IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards, setting in motion a new era of sustainability-related disclosures in the capital markets. This is an important step in the greater integration of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) practices in the world of finance. In fact, since 2016, the total value of assets managed with a focus on ESG has increased by an impressive 55%, now exceeding $35 trillion.
Private staffing firms have also been embracing ESG practices, with an increasing number of companies from the staffing sector, mostly headquartered in the UK, actively engaging with it. ESG goes deeper than traditional Corporate Social Responsibility, as a more serious commitment is required from companies. ESG initiatives ask businesses to be transparent and to set goals and systems to measure their performance.
Moreover, SIA’s analysis of the most commonly used terms and phrases in staffing firm annual reports has identified an increasingly clear trend, with ESG-oriented words being mentioned 24 times in 2019 and 969 times in 2022.
It is clear that ESG is no longer just a trend but a significant move towards making sustainable practices the new normal in the global economy.
