ESG performance as the magic ingredient of trust, International benchmark of leading global brands

As the impacts of climate change are materialising and social disparities are growing, we are realising the importance concerted action. Civil society, public bodies, and private corporations each have their strengths which need to be used to target different parts of the challenge. Civil Societies are very good at identifying societal and environmental needs, public bodies provide the regulatory framework, and in some cases financial incentives, to ensure that issues are addressed and industry provides the know-how and innovation to actually implement the needed changes.

Public affairs and advocacy play a vital role in intermediating between these bodies and are having to grow their toolkits to manage the increasing interactions between stakeholders. One of such tools are the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) indicators, which are becoming the common language used by civil society, industry, and public bodies to foster cooperation.

Leidar and brandr have partnered to investigate how disclosing ESG metrics influence a company’s perceived trustworthiness. Our research employed the social responsibility and sustainability dimensions of the brandr index to measure how the top 15 brands on this list are perceived in regard to these dimensions’ metrics. The research findings will be discussed in the SDG Tent by global multilateral system leaders with the objective to create a common pathway of trust-based cooperation and advocacy.

Objectives:

• Explore trust dimension of ESG for global companies. 
• Provide an insight to the role of public affairs and advocacy in the ESG and SDG agenda. 
• Provide some tools for the creation platforms where civil society, public bodies and industry can mobilise action to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, resilient economy