India, July 30 -- Just in the last year, we have heard a dozen disappointing stories of large organisations backtracking on their ESG commitments. This includes major companies in oil and gas, e-commerce and FMCG companies who have retracted their climate, plastic packaging and DEI commitments. The global economic slowdown has definitely been a significant factor, causing corporations to look at return on sustainability investments with greater scrutiny and perhaps with a lens of lower priority in the short term. At least that's the messaging (and perhaps, the hope), but some signs point to things getting worse before they get better.
Backtracking on sustainability targets can also be partly attributed to increasingly complex and confusing...