ESG News Trends: Indices and Investing, the “E” in ESG, and More

A look at the Environmental, Social, and Governance news from PR Newswire in May and June that you might have missed.

By Emily Gielink | Published July 11, 2023

PR Newswire distributed approximately 455 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) releases in May and June of 2023. Staying up-to-date with all those headlines can be challenging, so we have collected the top stories to identify key trends in the industry and how they tie together.

With World Environment Day, World Oceans Day, and Global Wind Day all taking place in June, we saw an influx of content regarding new partnerships and extensions of investments, as well as new programs to study climate change.

Moving into the second half of 2023, we also saw a wealth of earnings releases cross the wire and continue to see more of them including ESG-specific sections in the copy. There have also been numerous action plans and steps toward net-zero goals and sustainability practices announced in companies' ESG, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), sustainability, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.

As the focus of companies continues to increasingly shift toward sustainability practices and green technology, we at PR Newswire continue to follow and analyze these trends. Below, we take a further look at these stories and some of the top-performing ESG releases in May and June.

Popular ESG Releases

Over the past two months, these were some of the most-viewed ESG press releases to cross the wire:

• Taco Bell is partnering with its long-time supplier Cargill and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to implement conservation and regenerative agriculture practices across cattle grazing lands.
• The contract between World Energy and World Fuel Services has the potential to reduce over 200,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions from air travel.
• Deloitte, Salesforce, and World Economic Forum announced the launch of the Yes San Francisco (Yes SF), Urban Sustainability Challenge.
• Morningstar, Inc. announced it will align the Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes product areas under Morningstar Indexes President Ron Bundy.

ESG News Trends

Eager to know more? Here’s a look at a few of the top trends we noticed among ESG press releases in May and June, with a few examples of each.

Annual and Inaugural ESG Reports

Although there has been some backlash against ESG investing due to greenwashing, more companies are beginning to report measurable, transparent ESG metrics, which are highlighted in their ESG, DEI, and sustainability reports, as well as their earnings announcements. As the ESG sector continues to expand and develop, we are also noticing more detail in these reports, with most including a full PDF and infographics to comprehensively display data.

As 2023 progresses, we continued to notice an uptick in the mentions of ESG in earnings – in May and June, 127 earnings releases mentioned “ESG.” While ESG reports are not new to the wire, they are becoming more common and we have seen a notable number of inaugural announcements sent via PR Newswire.

Here are a few note-worthy releases PR Newswire distributed in May and June pertaining to sustainability, ESG, DEI, and CSR reports:

• Outlined in its third annual ESG report, Petco Health and Wellness furthered its commitment to meeting consumer demand for more sustainable pet products and services.
• The 2022 DE&I Report from PepsiCo, Inc. revealed the company is continuing to make progress on its goals as part of its pep+ (PepsiCo Positive) agenda.
• The 12^th annual sustainability report from FMC Corporation, Science Driven, People Focused Solutions for Agriculture, presents the company's progress on key sustainability commitments, goals, and targets, including net-zero emissions, sustainable innovation, product stewardship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• The fifth annual Corporate Sustainability Report from Gates Corporation highlights the company’s progress on the four pillars of its sustainability strategy: Governance, Technology, Environment, and Stewardship.
• Westport Fuel Systems Inc. released its 2022 ESG Report, continuing on its sustainability journey with an emphasis on agility, adaptability, and resilience.

ESG Investing and Indices

As discussed in a previous February blog post from PR Newswire, we have noticed plenty of news crossing the wire in regard to new investment opportunities as well as the creation of ESG indices.

Although there was a decrease in the creation of funds in 2022 – only 87, according to Morningstar/Yahoo! – there is recurring investor interest in the industry. We have also seen sustainable funds continue to outperform non-sustainable funds – regardless of the status of the economy – displaying the traction ESG is gaining.

The main difference between a traditional index and an ESG index is the criteria involved; meaning that a non-sustainable company will not be included on the index. With these ESG indices, there are also ESG impact ratings present to show how sustainable a company truly is. These ratings help organizations differentiate which investor pool they’d like to dip their toes in to further their ESG goals and agendas.

Below are a few releases PR Newswire has distributed in the past two months pertaining to ESG investing and indices:

• ISS ESG, the sustainable investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS), and Qontigo announced the release of the ISS STOXX Biodiversity Index Suite to mark the U.N.'s International Day for Biological Diversity.
• impak Analytics announced the world’s first indices based on the ESG+ assessment, allowing investors to support positive change in five key areas.
• Illumina, Inc. hosted its third annual virtual Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) focused investor event, which consisted of a presentation, fireside chat, and Q&A session regarding Illumina's ESG strategy and action plans.

The “E” in ESG

With new funding comes new technology, programs, and education opportunities, which PR Newswire has seen plenty of over the past couple of months. Now not only are there ESG initiatives and events, but also reliable tools and even schools!

Learning how to incorporate sustainability practices into everyday workflow and navigating ESG is gradually becoming an easier task. World Environment Day, World Oceans Day, and Global Wind Day in June also gave ample opportunities for organizations to create engaging events and allowed for the announcements of new solutions and studies.

To coincide with these events/days in June, PR Newswire noticed an increase in content mentioning climate change efforts and the effects of global warming. In just the past two months, approximately 1,380 releases mentioned “climate change” and 78 mentioned “global warming.” These topics also go hand-in-hand with ESG investing, as climate change is considered to be one of the key dimensions of ESG considerations for businesses.

Here are a few examples of recent releases sent via PR Newswire that dive further into the “E” in ESG:

• The Greentown Go program from Greentown Labs and Shell will provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and educational workshops while focusing on technologies for carbon utilization, storage, and traceability.
• Delta Electronics, Inc. declared its new brand value proposition, "Realizing an Intelligent, Sustainable, and Connecting World," at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2023 by unveiling a smart community hub enabled by its broader portfolio of IoT-based Smart Green Solutions.
• Cognizant has expanded its global collaboration with AT&T by joining the AT&T Connected Climate Initiative (CCI), an industry consortium dedicated to eliminating one billion tons (the Gigaton Goal) of CO2 emissions by 2035 through the use of connectivity solutions and technology.
• JLL announced decarbonization consulting services and purpose-built technology designed specifically for the commercial real estate industry, which helps corporate real estate owners and investors understand their carbon footprint and develop a data-driven investment roadmap to create and protect value across their real estate portfolio.
• GrubMarket announced a partnership with One Tree Planted as part of its Sustainable California initiative, which aims to support nationwide reforestation efforts and combat climate change by planting trees in critical agricultural areas that have been devastated by natural disasters and climate events.

Conclusion

As technology and time advance, we continue to observe the increase in corporations’ efforts to make sustainable products and purchasing decisions, as well as investments for the future. With an ever-changing environment and evolving market, the team at PR Newswire plans to closely follow these trends as we head into the second half of 2023.

About the Author

Emily Gielink is a Senior Customer Content Specialist at Cision and has been with the company for almost four years. She is a Bowling Green State University alumni with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism.