David Penberthy Herald Sun February 24, 2024

As another millionaire CEO loses his job over another PR disaster, maybe it’s time sanctimonious corporations resorted to honesty. There was an interview in last month’s Qantas inflight magazine with the chief executive of the mining giant Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto you will recall is the company which landed itself in deep strife when it emerged in 2020 that it had blown up two 46,000 year-old Aboriginal caves in Western Australia to access $135 million worth of iron ore.

The revelation was pivotal in the departure of former CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques and his replacement with new boss Jakob Stausholm, the subject of the profile piece in the Qantas mag.

In that article, Stausholm talked about how he has always placed himself at the vanguard of what’s known in business circles as ESG, which stands for environmental, social, governance. ESG is basically the progressive corporate checklist covering everything from carbon emissions and reconciliation to gender equality and LGBTQI friendliness, against which “enlightened” modern corporations assess their conduct as good corporate citizens.

ESG strikes a delicate and often unsuccessful balance between doing the right thing, and coming across as preachy and sanctimonious.

It creates a real risk that companies can be seen as straying from their day jobs.

And it can also set them up for accusations of hypocrisy, as was the case last year when Rio Tinto took time out from its once-hectic schedule blowing up indigenous sacred sites to campaign for a Yes vote at last year’s referendum.

Continue reading Ever heard of ESG? →