ESG and the Law: The shifting sands of accountability

Editorial

Abstract

Over the last forty years, the ESG framework has undergone remarkable transformations in corporate and international law, evolving from voluntary corporate philanthropy into a system shaped by binding obligations. This shift was brought about by the adoption of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in 2022 and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in 2024, alongside a notable proliferation of national business and human rights legislation in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom, among other countries. Yet, despite growing social pressure, reflected in more than 250 strategic climate cases filed against companies since 2015 (Setzer, Higham, 2025: 19), turning ESG obligations from soft law into hard law has been a winding road. Initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact (United Nations Information Service, 2000) and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2011) have long paved the way for enforceable duties. However, binding law is not developing in a linear or clear way, and this special issue emerges at a moment of intense and unstable dynamics for ESG obligations.