Paint the Shed Green
We’re all familiar with those pictures in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Reports of over-eager young financiers in their matching corporate tee shirts participating in Employee Volunteering (EV) schemes in their local community. Images in CSR Reports such as these are produced professionally to maximise reputational benefits for the employer. There’s many a dilapidated shed housing football gear for under privileged youth in communities, such as Tower Hamlets in London. While these may well be an eyesore for those living in the gentrified parts of the borough, they do serve a societal purpose. “Saving the shed” by painting it green can become a compelling mantra for a CSR initiative. It is green (check the E box), it’s beneficial to the community (check the S box) and representative of employee empowerment (check the G box). But CSR isn’t ESG and not all EV is valid CSR. The shed can be left unlocked and the gear go missing. The shed can become more expensive to maintain taking more money from Tower Hamlets Council’s already challenged budget.
As sustainability increasingly becomes a public and private policy imperative, the risks of merely creating an ESG bandwagon increase. As a result, the bandwagon cheerleaders are under political attack for greenwashing. Yet those attacks can undermine the very real foundations for well-considered sustainable investment programmes. But using “greenwashing” and “ESG” just as labels for a political position trivializes the very real substance of the issue. At the time of writing the world is accepting that we face real challenges (climate change, wealth disparity, food security, and access to healthcare, among others) such that it is important to understand who is actually making a positive difference and those just greenwashing. This paper addresses just that
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