Back to the Learning Academy.
A Silver Lining with a Golden Future: ESG in 2020

February 1, 2021

ESG Global Advisors
ESG

Originally published Dec 2020
2020 was a year of unprecedented economic and social disruption. Against this backdrop, there has been transformative global momentum in the integration of ESG factors into investment decision-making, corporate disclosure, and government policy. This piece explores the ESG-related advancements that occurred in 2020 and the outlook for ESG in 2021.
A Silver Lining with a Golden Future: ESG in 2020

Related Articles
Since CIRI's last Backgrounder on this topic in February 2025, the pace of new developments in the area of ESG standards and regulatory disclosure has slowed. The most significant development has been the cessation of all progress by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission toward the development of climate disclosure rules for listed companies.
Millani's eleventh Semi-Annual ESG Sentiment Study of Canadian Institutional Investors finds that current pushback on ESG is less a retreat than a pause, with uncertainty eroding disclosure quality, trust, and ultimately increasing the cost of capital.