AN OVERVIEW ON ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE – ESG-TOPICS FROM THE FINANCIAL MARKETS’ PERSPECTIVE

If the concept of sustainability and sustainable development has been used for over 50 years, its use in the financial world is more recent. Today, companies and investors focus on ESG that stands for Environmental Social Governance. Capital markets can be a powerful tool for creating change. By restricting access to capital, companies are stimulated to improve their performance under measures Environmental, Social or Governance. Rewarding companies and managers that perform well on ESG factors encourages continuous progress and improvement. But in order to do that, it is necessary for companies and stakeholders to have at their disposal standards and indexes that measure the performance of companies in the ESG field and ensure comparability.