Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business Launches ESG Assessment Map to Aid Businesses in Incorporating ESG

The ESG and Social Innovation Center at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) proudly announces the launch of a groundbreaking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Assessment Map, produced by CKGSB Professor of Marketing ZHU Rui (Juliet).

The ESG Assessment Map provides a comprehensive framework that simplifies the complex process of conducting ESG by breaking it down into actionable items on the environmental, social and governance respectively. This toolkit enables companies to clearly see the ESG actions they can adopt and effectively identify the intersections of their core business with ESG principles.

It comes at a critical time when companies feel the urgency to incorporate ESG in their business strategy and the challenge to do so while achieving profitability as they become more active in global markets that increasingly emphasize the importance of sustainable and responsible business practices. The map is developed and used in Professor Zhu’s practice-based ‘Business for Good’ Executive MBA course at CKGSB, where more than 2,800 Chinese business executives and entrepreneurs have learned to apply ESG in their businesses.

Professor Zhu emphasized the importance of this toolkit saying, “In today’s interconnected world, ESG practices are no longer optional but essential for sustainable business growth. We selected international mainstream ESG standards on sustainable development, analysed their material, sorted and reorganized the data to design the ESG Assessment Map. Our goal is to empower companies, big or small, to seamlessly integrate ESG considerations into their core strategies and operations.”

Key Features of the ESG Assessment Map:

1. Actionable toolkit for business leaders: Incubated in CKGSB’s practice-based course, the map offers an intuitive interface with actionable items, answering companies’ most asked question – how do I know the right sustainability efforts my company should address — and offering a holistic view of the areas for improvement.
2. Accessible and execution-friendly for companies of all sizes: Simplifying complex global standards, this map is tailor-made for companies big and small with ESG action points clearly mapped-out.
3. Tool for optimizing business operation: Rather than being a toolkit for corporate compliance to replace standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the MSCI ESG Metrics, SASB Standards and Bcorp, the map is a tool of action steering businesses’ ESG strategy and operation.

The launch of this map aligns with the school’s broader mission to foster social innovation, which CKGSB strives to do by advancing collaboration among businesses, governments, multilateral institutions, non-profit organizations and civil society to help address some of humanity’s most challenging problems. Since 2005, CKGSB has been a trailblazer by incorporating the humanities into core business curricula, providing students a more holistic view of business. Since 2010, all degree students have been required to participate in philanthropic service in order to graduate, resulting in over 165,000 hours served to date. Recognizing the importance of social innovation, CKGSB introduced social innovation as a required module across degree programs since 2018.