Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Diplomacy: The Time Has Come for a Corporate and Financial Social Justice Great Reset

The external shock of the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has profound impacts around the world for this generation and the following. Although accounting for the most drastic societal shift in modern history, the Coronavirus pandemic also holds the potential of a Great Reset. This paper addresses three trends that have become prevalent in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic: (1) A rising inequality experienced has led to demands for Corporate Social Justice, namely the corporate engagement in social justice initiatives and action. (2) The finance world has had opportunities to diversify and exchange COVID-struck industries for COVID-profiting market segments and therefore a rising financial market performance versus real economy budget constraint gap has arisen. (3) Governments around the world are pegging economic COVID-19 rescue and recovery aid to pursue noble goals – such as climate change abatement and a transitioning to renewable energy in the United States Green New Deal and the European Green Deal and the European Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. These trends point at the integration of environmental, social and corporate governance in the corporate sector. The aftermath of the crisis is now a time for a great system reset to integrate environmental, social and corporate governance in the corporate and finance sectors. Future economic policy research may be inspired by legal expertise on disparate impact. With respect for current trends of citizen scientists and science diplomacy, public policy work may embrace environmental, social and corporate governance whole-roundedly. While natural behavioral laws were guiding anchors to address inequality during a turbulent time of the pandemic, more rational behavioral insights could nudge people into more equitable growth strategies in a recovering world.