Uncertainty about corporate ESG spikes
The proportion of industry professional who don’t know if their company has an ESG strategy has risen sharply, a new survey shows.
GlobalData’s Q2 2025 Sentiment Polls survey, carried out across the company’s network of B2B news websites, found that the proportion of respondents who did not know if their company had an ESG strategy increased to 30% from 19% in Q1 2025. Concurrently, the proportion of respondents who said that their company had an ESG strategy fell to 39% from 46% in Q1.
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In its report accompanying the survey results, GlobalData said: “The growing anti-ESG movement primarily started in the US and has since spread to other parts of the world. Anti-ESG politicians, lobby groups and other stakeholders have put pressure on companies to drop their ESG strategies. This may create confusion among employees as to whether their company still has an ESG strategy.”
Indeed, the anti-ESG movement may also be contributing to a change in company priorities. Of the five major themes polled, ESG is now ranked bottom in terms of what respondents believe will most impact their business in the next 12 months, having fallen below cybersecurity. In addition, the lowest proportion of respondents, 7%, indicated ESG since Q4 2023, when the figures stood at 4%.
The top three themes respondents expect to impact their business over the next 12 months are geopolitical conflict (40%), high inflation (33%) and digitalisation (10%).
“Once again, geopolitical conflict was the theme with the highest ranking in terms of disruptiveness,” GlobalData outlined. “The proportion of respondents answering in this way increased from 36% in Q1 2025 to 40% in Q2. Geopolitical tensions have increased steadily in recent quarters, with concerns about war in the Middle East ratcheting up in Q2 as the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran.”
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By GlobalDataIt added: “For the second consecutive quarter, high inflation was just off the top spot of perceived disruptiveness. Economic concerns have been rife this quarter, especially with uncertainty around the US government’s tariff policy. However, the risk of geopolitical conflict is perceived as a greater short-term threat.”
GlobalData also noted that high-profile cyberattacks on UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Co-op, have led to an increased focus on cybersecurity.
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