5th May 2023
Below we explain some key ESG terms to aid your understanding and future discussions.
- Sustainability: The United Nations (UN) defined Sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
- ESG: As defined by Gartner, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) refers to a collection of corporate performance evaluation criteria that assess the robustness of a company’s governance mechanisms and its ability to effectively manage its environmental and social impacts.
- UNSDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): The 17 global goals adopted by the UN’s member states in 2015 at the New York summit are referred as UN SDGs.
- Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI): The United Nations Environment Programme Finance initiative’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance serve as a global framework for the insurance industry to address ESG risks and opportunities. Endorsed by the UN Secretary General and launched in 2012, the four Principles are based on the insurance industry’s core business to understand, manage and carry risk: Visit PSI website to download and know more.
- Greenwashing: Claims, behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is.
- Triple Bottom Line (People-Planet-Profit approach): Referenced in the Brundtland Report dated 1987, the triple bottom line of sustainability is the fundamental framework to understand sustainable development through three pillars of environmental protection (planet), social value-add (people), and economic development (profits). Read more here.
- KPIs: Key performance indicators to monitor and measure progress.
- ESG Materiality Assessment: a tool used to identify and prioritise ESG issues that are the most critical to your firm
- Stakeholder: Stakeholders in the context of ESG are a wide group, they include; customers, employees, regulators, companies in the supply chain, owners, shareholders, funders and other key groups.