2022 ESG Trends Introduction

What can the past tell us about the future?

Looking for the trends that may impact investors and companies most in 2023? Download the latest report: ESG and Climate Trends to Watch for 2023

When we first published our annual ESG trends to watch a decade ago, climate change, the value of human and natural capital, and conflicting demands for water all made the list. The risks of a changing climate, health and safety, and our dependence on nature echoed in one form or another in each of the annual forecasts that followed.

While looking out a year won’t tell you what comes next, the act of considering annually what lies ahead shows that if you have a long enough horizon, the ESG risks of today can end up changing the risk profile for investors tomorrow.

Each of these trends is shaping society. Together they hint at the risks and opportunities that may exert a pull on investment portfolios, and the forces that investors may be confronting, in the years and decades to come.


2022 ESG Trends Video

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2022 ESG Trends to Watch

Over the last decade, ESG has gone from fringe to mainstream. Investors and companies have seen increased regulation, demands for transparency and a quest for standards.

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2022 ESG Trends Introduction Part 2

ESG Trends to Watch for 2022

Here are some of the ESG trends we see impacting investors and companies in the coming year. They range from evolving regulation and the receding of greenwashing, to the intensifying push for change in how the planet produces energy and the critical role of natural capital. Others look at lessons learned (or not) from the pandemic, and the latest twists in the enduring challenge of global inequality.

Climate as first among equals

Climate is eclipsing governance and social issues at the top of the ESG agenda, reflecting both the existential threat of global temperature rise and the race against time to rein it in.


Climate As First Among Equals

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The mainstreaming of ESG

ESG investing has become a prevailing part of investing. The year ahead will reflect it.


The Mainstreaming of ESG

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Emerging risks and opportunities

What looming issues of today might become the systemic risks of tomorrow?


Emerging Risks And Opportunities

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