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Ignoring ESG is like driving blind into the future

Elon Musk may not be a fan, but whether they like it or not, it is time for tech firms to incorporate ESG into their business models

Vincent McCarthy, founder of ESG Ireland and the Responsible Investment Institute: ‘From companies to investment decision-makers like trustees and financial advisers, they’ve all had to think about sustainability.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

What springs to mind when you hear the term ESG? Yet another three letter acronym, it stands for environmental, social and governance – the three so-called pillars of sustainability and ethical impact in business.

People tend to fall into two camps when it comes to the idea of social responsibility in business. One is deeply cynical, seeing such ideas as a form of marketing and something companies do mainly for the sake of appearance. After ...