ABSTRACT
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has risen to dominate the discourse around sustainable business. Since the late 2010s, there has been an unprecedented interest in ESG ratings, funds, scores and disclosures. This chapter charts the rise of ESG and introduces the idea of the financialisation of sustainability. It explains the backlash against ESG and why measurement and data are the golden thread running through the critiques from left and right. It sets out how there is a growing gap between corporate and investor claims and reality. The chapter contributes to the research through showing how sustainability is a contested concept, and there is no right way to measure the good that business does. Instead, business impacts are introduced as complex, contextual and dynamic. Sharper definitions of ESG and a broader field are proposed. The ratings, rankings and data used by investors and other stakeholders are outlined and some of the limits to capturing reality are explained.
