The overwhelming majority of large companies around the world incorporate sustainable business practices, whether they call if sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. They tend to be motivated by a range of business benefits:

• Improved financial performance;
• Improved risk management, from cybersecurity to the supply chain;
• Cost reductions due to efficiency improvements;
• Pathway to innovation in new products/services;
• Improved ability to attract and retain customers;
• Better ability to attract and engage employees; and
• Enhanced goodwill as a positive corporate citizen.

Likewise, the communities in which sustainable businesses operate benefit from good local jobs and workforce training, business development for local suppliers, healthier air and water supplies, improved social equity for all citizens, and so on. When Southwestern Pennsylvania businesses prosper, our people do, too.

“The results are very consistent: firms making investments on material ESG [environmental, social, and governance] issues outperform their peers in the future in terms of risk-adjusted stock price performance, sales growth, and profitability margin growth.”

— George Serafeim, Harvard Business Review