Ceilidh Hemmati, Simon Foxcroft and Nolan Okrusko have written a white paper for Edmonton Global entitled ESG as a Catalyst for Economic Development.

The use of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics to evaluate the direct and indirect financial impact of the risks and opportunities of an investment is not new, but it has become more prevalent in recent years.

This timely paper provides insights on:

• the "G" in ESG and corporate governance factors;
• corporate behaviour, policies and business ethics;
• voluntary and mandatory ESG reporting;
• why governments and economic development agencies should be attune to ESG; and
• the ESG efforts carried out by certain economic development agencies in Alberta, British Columbia, Toronto and California to date.