Corporations are facing growing pressure—from investors, advocacy groups, politicians, and even business leaders themselves—to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations and their supply and distribution chains. About 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 now issue some form of environmental, social, and governance report, almost always including an estimate of the company’s GHG emissions.

The birth of “Modern Economic Growth” constituted a watershed in human history, allowing societies to escape the Malthusian impasse and permanently raise living standards. While the new growth regime had lifted billions of people out of extreme poverty over the last two centuries, the total distribution of economic gains—both between and within countries—had been far from equitable.

The latest version of the Edelman Trust Barometer shows that there is a “new values mandate for business to be an ethical participant in society.” The report found that geopolitics is now a key issue for business to address and that, while trust in business is rising in the West, those gains are only seen among those in the top quartile of income.

Many DEI initiatives are scuttled because DEI leaders and legal teams feel themselves to be at odds over questions of acceptable risk. DEI leaders see lawyers as guardians of the status quo, whereas legal experts, trained to anticipate the worst, believe they are protecting the company from legal risk. In most situations they’re confronted with a risk-reward calculus that’s easy to quantify.