Tales of the Unexpected: Why ESG has moved up, not down the corporate agenda

When a global crisis struck in 2008, sustainability quickly got pushed down the agenda by businesses. There wasn’t the available cash to spend on being green, went the rhetoric.

But when a global pandemic struck this year, the opposite happened. Despite the worldwide shutdown of economies, despite the hardships faced by individuals and businesses alike, a focus on sustainability and social impact has never been more important.

Now corporates can’t afford not to invest in it.

In the second of four special EG Property Podcasts looking at the lessons learnt out of the forced changes we have all had to make during the coronavirus pandemic, EG editor Samantha McClary chats to Tor Borrows, executive director of sustainability and innovation at Grosvenor, David Goatman, head of energy & natural resources EMEA at Knight Frank, Sonny Masero, chief strategy officer at Evora Global, Cherie Norris, Herts IQ programme manager at Hertfordshire Innovation Quarter and Sarah Ratcliffe, chief executive of the Better Buildings Partnership, about why sustainability and been a winner in this crisis and what they hope real estate continues to do to keep climate under control.