Policy Punchline

Matt Arnold is the Global Head of ESG at J.P. Morgan Chase and has been a pivotal figurehead in integrating sustainable energy practices into large corporations. One important topic in light of the Covid-19 crisis and the recent Black Lives Matter protests is ESG – environmental, social, and corporate governance. ESG has been a discussion topic in the corporate world for a long time, but the topic has suddenly risen to an ever more important status in the past few months. On the environmental side, there is the call for corporations to move away from fossil fuel and be carbon neutral; on the social side, you have the call for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which is about promoting a more diverse workforce. Two additional noteworthy aspects related to ESG in light of the recent social turmoil are: one, the demand for more inclusive stakeholding calls to an end to the former principle of “shareholder value maximization.” And two, in terms of economic policy, the “misvaluing” of essential workers duri