TOP 10 Most-Read Thought Leaders in ESG

illuminem is proud to present the most-read Thought Leaders in ESG globally, as recognised by illuminem’s ever growing community of 700,000+ readers.

ESG spent the past year under fire from all sides. In the US, it became a political target; pension funds were forced to curtail it, and asset managers grew wary amid litigation threats. In Europe, the Omnibus package and a proposed overhaul of the SFDR disclosure regime redrew the rules mid-game, excluding the majority of previously covered firms from mandatory reporting. Shareholder support for environmental and social resolutions fell sharply, and “greenhushing” – companies pursuing sustainability goals while saying as little as possible about them – became the industry’s defensive posture of choice.

And yet the underlying logic refused to disappear. As one observer put it, what looked like retreat was often reframing: ESG repositioned from a values argument to one about risk, resilience, and long-term value. The voices on this list approached that reframing from every angle – nature as a financial risk, the refinement of ethical exclusions, transition finance, and the role of markets and property rights in solving environmental problems.

Markus Müller tops the list this year, as Chief Investment Officer for ESG at Deutsche Bank Private Bank and author of a fourth book on nature as capital. He writes with a rare command of both markets and ecology: his most-read piece dissected China’s carbon transition playbook, a clear-eyed look at how the world’s largest emitter is turning decarbonisation into industrial strategy.

Joining him on the list, Sasja Beslik, Chief Investment Strategy Officer at SDG Impact Japan,  reflects on why sustainable investing hurts but is worth it, Antoine Mach, co-founder of Swiss ESG rating agency Covalence, examines how ethical exclusions are becoming more refined, and pioneer of free market environmentalism Terry Anderson makes the case for turning markets into environmental tools. More…

Source: illuminem