ESG Standards: Looming Challenges and Pathways Forward

Abstract

We are pleased to serve as guest editors of this special issue of the journal Organization & Environment on the State of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) Standards. Calls for standardization of corporate sustainability data continue to mount as a growing segment of the mainstream investor community seeks greater clarity and comparability regarding relative company performance on ESG issues. While ESG reporting standards have driven greater transparency over the years, there remains a great deal of work to undertake in order to better understand and formulate the standards for ESG data that will underlie decision-useful information in future disclosures.