ESG is understood to be an acronym for “environmental, social and governance,” but the term can be challenging because it’s used to describe similar but distinct communities of practice, including corporate social responsibility, socially responsible investing, corporate sustainability and impact finance.

In the 1980s, pension investor concerns for social and environmental issues evolved into what became known as socially responsible investing, which screened out investments that raised concerns over various human rights and environmental issues. This eventually spurred a corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, pressuring corporations to take responsibility for the negative external impacts of their operations.