ESG & Trade-offs

I recently completed the 2024 Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility (SLCR 2024) program at London Business School (LBS). One of my key takeaways was the critical importance of making strategic trade-offs to set meaningful sustainability priorities. The program emphasized that effective sustainability leadership requires carefully balancing competing stakeholder demands and organizational constraints. Rather than trying to address every issue, successful leaders must identify the most material ESG factors for their business context and focus resources where they can create the greatest impact.

In my view, strategic ESG focus often takes a backseat due to incomplete materiality assessment, short-term thinking, resource constraints, pressure to tackle everything at once. But what’s your take?

Thank you to the LBS faculty (@Ioannis Ioannou, @Miro Vala), for an enlightening and practical learning experience.