Can We Trust ESG Research?

The 23rd online public lecture the Indiana University - ECGI Online Series was given by Alex Edmans (London Business School and ECGI) on the topic, “Can We Trust ESG Research?”.

The number of ESG studies, by both academics and practitioners, has soared. Some of these studies have been published in top academic journals and have had substantial real-world impact, yet contain important flaws. This talk outlined the main ways in which the conclusions drawn by researchers may not fully align with the analysis. For practitioners, it highlighted simple questions that we can ask ourselves to assess how much we can trust a study. For academics, it suggested best practices in both the execution and communication of ESG research.

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. Alex has a PhD from MIT as a Fulbright Scholar, and was previously a tenured professor at Wharton and an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. Alex has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified in the UK Parliament, and given the TED talk “What to Trust in a Post-Truth World” and the TEDx talk "The Pie-Growing Mindset" and “The Social Responsibility of Business” with a combined 2.7 million views. He serves as Mercers School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, giving a four-year programme of lectures to the public, and on Royal London Asset Management’s Responsible Investment Advisory Committee. Alex’s book, “Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit”, was featured in the Financial Times list of Business Books of the Year for 2020, and he is a co-author of “Principles of Corporate Finance” (with Brealey, Myers, and Allen) from the 14th edition. He was named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants in 2021.

The public lecture series was organised by Institute for Corporate Governance (ICG) in partnership with the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University and ECGI.