Given the considerable focus on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors from diverse stakeholders such as investors, employees, customers, local communities, regulators, NGOs, suppliers, and even political entities, it can be argued that ESG has become a business phenomenon too significant to be ignored. This stakeholder pressure, coupled with increasing ESG regulations, a lack of uniform reporting standards and metrics, insufficient data supporting ROI, and politicization (more so here in the U.S.), has created a real business challenge for organizations today. In response to this need for business leaders to understand ESG and all its intricacies as they relate to their organization, professional service providers have increasingly developed service offerings to help clients best navigate through ESG challenges and maximize growth opportunities.
In 2023, Pacesetter Research published its first of three report series on ESG (environmental, social, governance), with a concentration on the “E.” The report specifically looked at how innovators among professional service providers are helping clients understand, develop, and properly manage the changing environmental regulatory landscape in addition to helping clients best manage their environmental initiatives set forth (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions reduction, renewable energy adoption, carbon neutrality or net zero emissions targets, etc.) as part of their ESG strategy. The report also examined how innovative providers themselves are developing an environmentally focused strategy that is aligned to meet their own ESG organizational goals. The legal segment was among the professional services providers analyzed in the report. According to the report, innovators among law firms are not only helping clients address current ESG regulatory requirements but also engaging clients in long-term conversations where a proactive ESG framework is used to create long-term business value.
