“ESG is poised to become a major element of nonfinancial reporting at the very moment that it is becoming highly controversial andpoliticized. New European Union rules regarding mandatory ESG reporting will affect public and private U.S. companies that meet certain EU-presence thresholds or–significantly–are part of the value chain of an entity that is required to make the mandatory disclosures.

This development represents a significant departure from past practices and will reach much farther than many companies may have anticipated. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission is on the verge of adopting climate-related disclosure rules, possibly heralding the start of increasingly onerous ESG reporting obligations. These regulatory developments are supported by many, though not all, institutional investors, and the extent of such support going forward is likely to influence the future direction of ESG disclosure.”

[COMMENTARY] At the moment when there is an ESG backlash by some in the USA, particularly, the financial world, generally, is adopting ESG regulatory and reporting measures. I believe those in this ESG backlash will be the losers in this fight. However, corporate boards are going to have to manage an exceedingly fraught governance environment.
ESG in 2023: Politics and Polemics, by David Katz and Laura McIntosh, February 8, 2023, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, USA.