Research Guides: SOC 3316: Business, Civil Society, and the Environment: ESG

Resources for ESG

Professional business research subscriptions via Vanderbilt University

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
News and newspaper stories, federal and state court cases, US law reviews and journals, company profiles and directories. Company Dossier; data on public figures.
Access Note: Personal account required for some functionality.

How to Find CSRhub ESG Ratings on Nexis Uni

Statista This link opens in a new window
Search for ESG to bring up reports and statistics on this topic.

ESG Websites

Financial Times: ESG investing
Access to Financial Times is provided by Vanderbilt Law Library. Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff should create an account with their VU email address.
ESG Navigator
Some resources are free, while others are behind a firewall.
3BL CSR Wire
Breaking CSR reports aggregated by industry.
Corporate Register
The global online directory of CSR reports. Includes over 145,000 reports across 22,000 companies.
Bentley University: Hoffman Center for Business Ethics CSR Reports Library
Hoffman Center for Business Ethics archive of company CSR reports.
Financial Stability Board - TCFD Disclosures
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List of climate-related financial disclosures and sustainability reports that align with one or more of the TCFD’s 11 recommended disclosures.

Websites for Corporate Social Responsibility & Governance

The following websites have been selected by the librarians at Walker Management Library as being choice sources of corporate social responsibility information on the World Wide Web.

50 Largest Corporate Foundations by Total Giving
AFL-CIO Corporate Watch
Executive pay and accountability and suggestions for additional resources for research.
American Customer Satisfaction Index - University of Michigan
A resource for corporate reputation research. The ACSI is the only measure of the quality of economic output nationwide. Research is showing the ACSI to be a leading economic indicator & a predictor of financial performance at the firm level.
As You Sow
In 1997, As You Sow launched the Corporate Social Responsibility Program (CSRP) to use shareholder advocacy and the financial markets to catalyze positive change within public held companies.
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
Stated goal is to ensure that MBAs are prepared for social and environmental stewardship. To that end, they rank business schools on their ability to prepare students and give awards to “Faculty Pioneers.”
Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
Works with global corporations to help them define, plan and operationalize corporate citizenship. Its goal is to help business leverage its social, economic and human assets to ensure both its success and a more just and sustainable world.
Business & Human Rights Resource Center
News and reports about companies’ human rights impacts worldwide – positive and negative. Topics include discrimination, environment, poverty & development, labor, access to medicines, health & safety, security, trade.
Business for Social Responsibility
Founded in 1992 as an association of 50+ companies, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) goal is to help companies of all sizes & sectors achieve success in ways that demonstrate respect for ethical values, people, communities & the environment.
Caux Round Table
An international network of business leaders working to promote “moral capitalism.” Web site includes a list of affiliated organizations as well lists of names and affiliations of business leaders serving on its various governing and advisory boards.
Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog
Corporate Rap Sheet
Corporate Rap Sheets are dossiers summarizing significant crimes, violations and other questionable activities of the world’s largest and most controversial companies.
Corporate Responsibility Magazines "Black List"
Companies on the “Black List” represent the least-transparent companies in the Russell 1000.
CSRwire
Online source of corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, reports and information.
Duke CFO Global Business Outlook
Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation
ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services) White Papers
A selection of ISS research on a variety of topics, ranging from trends in securities class action filings and executive compensation, to board diversity and global regulatory developments.
Net Impact
An international nonprofit organization whose mission is to make a positive impact on society by growing and strengthening a community of new leaders who use business to improve the world.
OECD - Corporate Governance
Data and research on corporate governance including guidelines for multinational enterprises (MNEs) and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
oekom Corporate Responsibility Studies
Includes annual reports on sustainability in corporate management.
Reputation Institute
An international organization devoted to advancing knowledge about corporate reputations and to providing professional assistance to companies interested in measuring and managing their reputations proactively.
Stanford Rock Center for Corporate Governance
Joint initiative of Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. The Center was created to advance the understanding and practice of corporate governance in a cross-disciplinary environment.
Sustainability Disclosure Database
Thousands of reports and reporting organizations. Partnership of the Global Reporting Initiative and KPMG.

ESG background

Naming conventions for Sustainability Reports vary. A Harvard Law School article (2021) found 18 distinct ways in which companies titled their reports. “Sustainability” (43%) was the most commonly used term in report titles, while “CSR” (24%) and “ESG” (23%) were further behind. The average length of a 2021 Sustainability Report was 70 pages.

CSR Report Name Options: Business & Sustainability Report - Citizenship and Sustainability Report - Corporate Citizenship Report - Corporate Responsibility Report - Corporate Social Responsibility Report - Environmental, Social and Governance (or ESG) Report - Global Citizenship Annual Report - Global Citizenship & Sustainability Report - Global Environmental & Social Impact Report - Global Impact Report - Global Responsibility Report - Impact Report - Integrated Sustainability Report and Annual Report - Responsible Business Report - Social Impact and Sustainability Report - Stakeholder Sustainability Report - Sustainability Report - Sustainable Impact Report.