The UNGC–and its corresponding Communication on Progress (CoP)–is a voluntary initiative that supports companies' commitments to responsible business practices regarding governance, human rights, labor rights, the environment, and anti-corruption.

SASB Standards were developed based on extensive feedback from companies, investors, and other market participants as part of a transparent, publicly documented process. This detailed and transparent undertaking includes evidence-based research, broad participation from companies, investors, and subject matter experts, as well oversight and approval from an independent Standards Board.

While companies ideally should be focusing on the E, S, and G pillars equally, that is frequently not the case. Decision makers who drive ESG, such as global investors, regulators, businesses and individuals, tend to prioritize the ‘E’, and even the ‘G’, over the ‘S’ for a variety of reasons. The ‘S’ has even been called “the ugly duckling” of the trio.

One supplementary pathway for companies to address climate change is by participating on the voluntary carbon market – by purchasing carbon credits: RECs and offsets. (Cue the song “Who will buy,” in Oliver.)

A month that is supposed to represent the ongoing fight for the rights and representation of the LGBTQ+ community has become conflated with rainbow capitalism and performative activism. Targeted LGBTQ+ marketing increased in the early 2000s in an attempt to target ‘the pink economy,’ the collective purchasing power of the LBGTQ+ community valued at nearly $300 billion in the U.S. alone.