Behavior reflects choice. The ability to respond is also a choice. The choice architecture reflects leverage. Leverage is a function of power.

The crisis which ESG in the current avatar is of underperformance or at least the optics of it. ESG is not a monolith and has to be gauged on a sliding scale. The non-financial risk metrics are weak signals of material risks to be, which is a temperature check equivalent of something which might go wary. ESG itself needs to be assessed on its own terms rather than a proxy for the weight of our collective aspirations regarding climate change. ESG is a proxy for an aspect for which it is, it is a way of doing business the right way.

Barber Shops or Nai ki Dukaan or the gentrified salon is a space of migration and mobility of a trade that is automation resistant and requires hardly any education beyond school. The stylist or the barber usually comes from districts in Uttar Pradesh that supply the salon supply chains from Mumbai to Dubai via Kerala.

When i put a pause on my PhD dreams, which i will hopefully restart – I had told in a social media post that research and writing will take on a new lease of life. I look forward to this prestigious workshop on migration next year at Manipal where I will present my ethnographic work on food spaces as migration infrastructure.

ESG is the flavor of the corporate zeitgeist for all kinds of drivers and is often treated as an acronym which might be a temperature check for ethics. Environment as a domain when double clicked on, leads to drop down menu of number of sub domains starting from climate change to biodiversity to waste management. Governance is a vast sea of knowledge of their own from anti-graft to board diversity to compensation matters.

As an environmental engineer who retrained as an ethnographer by reading PhD level coursework in Human Geography and Sociology while working on Policy Projects, the S is my area of expertise. However Social itself has several buckets from Health & Safety to DEI to BHR to Community Stakeholder Engagement to Inclusive Governance. Now a days i focus on responsible supply chains and modern slavery concerns including decolonizing HRDD.

The intertwined nature of the various elements and their effect brings about the real nature of the weak signals that ESG as a riskfication paradigm is trying to achieve. All these elements need to be mapped along a spectrum and drawn from the ESIA playbook; the cumulative impact is a vital measure. The interpretive nature of the assessment requires an appreciation of the organizational context.

Ratings and rankings are bundled value judgements; thus, the methodology matters in the way that assessments are done, rather than looking at the rankings at face value. Important questions to ask as a ready reckoner are:

Who is assessing?

To what end is assessment driven data utilized in decision making calculus?

For ESG to move from risk to resilience, power dynamics need to be included.

The dialogue on just transition is vague if communities upstream and downstream with varying degrees of social capital comprising their habitus (invoking Bourdieu) are not involved in decision making that could rip apart the fabric of the everyday for them.

The anti ESG movement has its roots in coal and oil dependent communities seeking survival through politics. As a global movement ESG needs to include diverse voices by relating to the disenfranchised too. The notion of the global is rooted in the planetary risk politics of the hyper risk society. The vote that individuals cast is still local, as jobs are local albeit dependent on transnational flows of capital and resources.

Global is great, however local is better.

#esg#socialcapital

The Diaspora or the host land is always a space time capsule of the past, as home rides new waves.

The Sustainability/Engineering Consulting business is ripe for disruption itself, as many innovative professionals and initiatives are occupying intellectual real estate which was the preserve of the consultant. Little investment in learning ossifies the tool kit.

Climate Migration has been occurring for decades without the term being coined. Communities have been moving to escape famine, drought, and flooding since times immemorial. Rich and Poor both will need to move, as low-lying areas will flood, and vulnerabilities manifest a lived dimension. The business cost is clear to the insurance sector and banks, as well as real estate.

#climate

This year has been one of the most challenging with transitions in terms of geographies, health, and professional moves. The metric for growth has evolved and being anti fragile is the one which dominates the internal dashboard. What makes us wake up each morning with the same energy each day?

What is the impact that we ought to create?

Keep walking is someone’s only thing we can do in the most challenging of circumstances.