Organisations’ environmental footprint, their practices to support society, and their transparent corporate procedures are three criteria that define their value. The threefold ESG is not just a trend; it’s here to stay, embracing human, physical, and social capital. This is the key point of our 4th Experts Talk, “Applying ESG criteria: Which are the benefits for organisations?” featuring Eva Gkenakou, ESG Advisor at SEV; Loukas Spanos, ESG Project Leader at Qualco Group; George Stamatis, General Secretary for Social Solidarity and Fight Against Poverty in a discussion on how the collaboration between the state and organisations can contribute to more sustainable societies.

Mr. Spanos defines ESG as a framework for measuring the organisation’s performance across the three pillars of Environment, Society, and Governance. At the same time, he describes how Qualco Group has leveraged the adoption of a concrete ESG framework. “Companies’ operational model creates a social footprint that ultimately returns to them,” he mentions while indicating that organisations’ positive impact on sustainability paves the way to new investments.

Mrs. Gkenakou analyses the ESG adoption path by Greek businesses. At the same time, she emphasises the importance of ESG as a critical investment indicator, “In a few years, organisations that haven’t yet applied ESG criteria may be excluded from the business ecosystem.”

Regarding the state’s contribution to the sustainable development of Greek society, Mr. Stamatis explains: “Gazing to a sustainable social ecosystem, the state implements a welfare policy while focusing on inclusion when it comes to the recruitment process.” Finally, he describes the state’s benefits from organisations’ ESG adoption, stating, “The challenge in the state-businesses cooperation is to specify the goals of sustainable development; How will vulnerable groups actually become part of social inclusion.”

Tune in to the discussion.