Updated with correction. An ACCP spokeswoman was misquoted in regard to the environment surrounding ESG. The corrected quote appears below.
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink's annual letter to companies and shareholders "says more about today's toxic political environment" than corporate commitment to ESG, a corporate social impact practitioners group said.
Members of the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals work at more than 240 companies managing ESG and social impact programs such as corporate giving and community outreach. While they have seen increased ESG commitment within companies, "within the increasingly divisive environment, we've seen companies not want to talk about it," an ACCP spokeswoman said in an interview Friday.
"The reality on the ground is that the value of their work has never been more important to their stakeholders — employees, customers, investors, and the communities in which they operate — and the long-term success of companies," said Carolyn Berkowitz, association president and CEO, in a statement Thursday.
Ms. Berkowitz cited a KPMG 2022 CEO survey showing that 70% of U.S. CEOs said their ESG programs improved their companies' financial performance, up from 37% in 2021."With the potential recession testing CEOs' commitment to their ESG strategies, reducing investment may lead to long-term financial risks. This test comes at a time when CEOs have made significant strides in tying ESG to profitability," she said.
In his annual letter Wednesday, Mr. Fink did not use the acronym ESG, focusing instead on investor choice around sustainable investing and the energy transition.
