Economic Factors of the Socio-Environmental Agenda in the ESG Concept

Abstract

Relevance. The rationalization of complex social ties of economic activities has given rise to the concept of balanced provision of comfortable living conditions, protection of the natural and cultural environment, meeting the needs of private business maximizing efficiency. The society requires to assess discrepancies between the priorities of economic factors and the generally accepted ESG green agenda.Purpose. To conduct a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the parameters of socio-ecological problems of economy, identify priority groups of criteria for choosing models of individual, institutional, country socio-ecological behavior.Objectives: Determine the conceptual framework for the evolution of approaches to the social and environmental agenda, conduct a study of the specifics of social and environmental assessments of the behavior of subjects, identify groups of factors in the dynamics of the carbon intensity of the economy, including the production and consumption of carbon intensive goods.Methodology. The methodological approach included an analysis of the dynamics of the concepts from environmental protection to the social and environmental component of the corporate strategy and the argument of market communication at the micro-level, from the millennium goals to the sustainable development of supranational communities; retrospective analysis of national volumes of CO2 emissions; methods of grouping, classification, graphical interpretation of the results of a comparative analysis to identify the evolution of the socio-ecological behavior of states.Results. An analysis of the statistical data on carbon dioxide emissions from a number of countries, taking into account consumption, showed an underestimated share of the economic "center" (USA, European Union) in emissions and an overestimation of the "periphery" countries (China, India). The use of a socio-ecological instrument of market promotion and squeezing out competitors reflects the predominance of economic factors in the behavior of organizational institutionalized economic entities. An analysis of the results of public opinion surveys confirms the discrepancy between the commitment to reasonable consumption declared by buyers and the real significance of cost-price factors of choice.Conclusions. The study of the declared and implemented socio-ecological model of individual, corporate, country behavior showed the predominance of economic factors in the implementation of the ESG approach by individuals, enterprises, and states. Actually implemented behavioral strategies are determined by the dominance of economic factors in the choice of models of individual, corporate, territorial (national, regional) socio-ecological behavior, along with the stated balancing of environmental, socio-cultural, economic factors (ESG).