Rethinking ESG: Rediscovering the Meaning of Stewardship

In recent years, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives have become a lightning rod in political discourse. Critics have reduced ESG to ideological talking points—especially on issues such as climate change and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—while supporters often frame it as a moral imperative. But both extremes can obscure the core of what ESG should truly be about. Strip away the noise, and ESG, at its best, is about something much deeper and more enduring: stewardship.

GRC 20/20 is seeing, even amid policy change in the USA, and restructuring of the EU CSRD and CSDDD in the EU Omnibus, many organizations are moving forward with ESG programs based on the stewardship to the organizations values, particularly across Europe and in parts of Asia such as Singapore, Australia, and Japan. The restructuring of the EU CSRD and CSDDD still has a significant impact on many organizations.

The True Nature of ESG: Stewardship Over Ideology

At its heart, ESG is not a political agenda or a public relations campaign. It is a framework for organizations to act as stewards of their environment, their communities, and their governance. Stewardship is the responsible planning and management of resources. It is about care, accountability, and a long-term view toward sustainability—not just in environmental terms, but across every aspect of how an organization operates.

From my own Christian faith tradition—while fully honoring the beliefs of other faiths and those with no religious affiliation—the concept of stewardship is foundational. Humanity was created to be stewards of creation: to care for the earth, to treat one another with dignity, and to live with integrity and responsibility. That same ethic of stewardship applies in the corporate context. ESG should be viewed not as a checklist of politically charged criteria, but as a commitment to responsible management of the organization, its use of resources, how it interacts with the communities it serves, and its impact across these areas and more.

Stewardship in Practice: Breaking Down ESG

Environmental Stewardship

Environmental stewardship is more than just reducing carbon footprints or making public pledges on climate goals. While climate change is a vital component, the environmental dimension of ESG includes broader concerns such as:

• PFAS and chemical pollution. Managing the use and disposal of hazardous substances like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which have widespread and lasting impacts on ecosystems and human health.
• Resource use and waste. Responsible consumption and disposal of water, energy, minerals, and materials. This means designing sustainable supply chains and product life cycles.
• Biodiversity and land use. Being mindful of how operations impact ecosystems, habitats, and land degradation.

Environmental stewardship requires that organizations actively evaluate how their operations impact the world around them and take steps to reduce harm, restore balance, and promote resilience.

Social Stewardship

Much of the political debate surrounding ESG tends to focus narrowly on DEI. While inclusion and equity are important, the S in ESG encompasses broader and often more urgent human rights and community concerns, such as:

• Modern slavery and labor practices. Ensuring that the organization and supply chains are free from forced labor, child labor, and exploitative conditions.
• Privacy and data protection. Safeguarding the personal information of employees, customers, and stakeholders in an age of growing digital exposure.
• Workplace safety, harassment, and discrimination. Fostering a safe, respectful, and fair work environment that upholds the dignity of all employees.

Social stewardship challenges organizations to consider their impact on human well-being—within the organization and across the broader communities they serve or affect.

Governance Stewardship

Governance is often the least discussed yet most crucial pillar of ESG. Good governance is not simply about ticking compliance boxes—it is about:

• Decision-making transparency
• Accountability of leadership
• Ethical behavior and oversight
• Integrity in reporting and assurance
• Internal controls, regulatory/legal compliance, and risk management

Strong governance ensures that the promises an organization makes in the environmental and social domains are not hollow. It is the framework that enables ESG commitments to translate into real, measurable action.

GRC: The Engine that Makes ESG Work

So how does an organization operationalize stewardship? That’s where GRC—Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance—comes in. ESG objectives do not become reality on good intentions alone. GRC is the structured capability that enables an organization to:

• Reliably achieve objectives (Governance) Set clear ESG goals based on the organization’s values, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory/legal obligations.
• Address uncertainty (Risk Management) Understand and mitigate risks—environmental, reputational, operational, legal—that can undermine ESG objectives goals.
• Act with integrity (Compliance) Ensure adherence to values, ethics, internal policies, regulations and external laws, and provide assurance through honest, transparent reporting.

Through GRC, ESG becomes more than a vision—it becomes a managed, measurable capability embedded across the organization.

But ESG starts with objectives. Any ESG strategy, program, process, or even technology that starts with ESG risks and not objectives is a broken and failed approach.

Integrity: The Ultimate Measure of ESG

Stewardship is not just about actions—it is about integrity. An organization may publish impressive ESG reports, but if those reports mask poor practices or create a misleading impression, they are nothing more than greenwashing. Authentic ESG performance comes from aligning words with deeds—living up to defined ESG values and commitments.

Each organization must define its ESG principles in alignment with its mission, values, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory obligations. What matters is not whether every ESG goal is reached overnight, but whether the organization is making transparent, credible, and consistent progress toward those goals.

A Call to Reframe the Conversation

It is time to reclaim ESG from the ideological battleground and ground it firmly in the language of stewardship and integrity and delivered through sound GRC practices found in the OCEG GRC Capability Model. When understood this way, ESG is not a threat to business—it is a path to better, more resilient, and more trustworthy business. Stewardship is not political. It is responsible. It is ethical. It is what good organizations—and good leaders—do.

Let’s rethink ESG not as a problem to solve, but as a principle to live by. When built on stewardship and supported by GRC, ESG becomes a powerful force for long-term value, accountability, and trust.