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Every year climate action gains traction in the acknowledgement of urgency and dire need, and, thankfully, many businesses are taking action. To help more business leaders move in a sustainable, and profitable, direction Jennifer Hartz shares how to get ESG right in this article.

“In the previous Hartz & Minds issue, we defined ESG, explained its history, shared examples of challenges faced in each area, and emphasized that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is rapidly becoming the norm. Why? Because it works.

Environment, Social, Governance: HOW

Now we explore HOW companies do ESG right, with positive sustainable impact on planet, people, and profit. Vicious cycles of natural resource depletion, human inequity, and bad actors in all sectors shift to virtuous cycles that benefit the earth and its inhabitants, while netting long-term financial returns and growth.

Elements of Success

As Corporate Hartz sees it, the key elements of success are compulsively ethical governance practices, full transparency internally and externally, engaging company assets (people, products, services, research, network), focus on a need (or needs) that the business is well positioned and well motivated to address, selecting the right civic partners, and capturing true metrics for continuous improvement.

Leverage Data

Powerful data proves that responsible businesses generate stronger results: Jerry Dodson, of Parnassus Investments, was an early believer in ethical investing (1984), including avoiding “sin stocks.” He has $22.5B all under socially responsible management. One fund invests exclusively in public and private companies on the Fortune ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list. Ergo, he has the #1 large cap growth stock fund over every long-term period from 1-10 years as tracked by Morningstar.

Dodson knows that the elements of a good workplace—from benefits like health insurance and childcare to cultural collegiality, advancement opportunities, and trust in management—are linked to meaningful qualities that drive up stock prices, such as talent retention and development, and increased productivity.”

Key points include:

• Measurable social impact

• Degree of innovation

• Corporate integration

Read the full article, How Companies Get ESG Right AND Profitable, on CorporateHartz.com.