Looking for the trends that may impact investors and companies most in 2023? Download the latest report: ESG and Climate Trends to Watch for 2023

When we first published our annual ESG trends to watch a decade ago, climate change, the value of human and natural capital, and conflicting demands for water all made the list. The risks of a changing climate, health and safety, and our dependence on nature echoed in one form or another in each of the annual forecasts that followed.

While looking out a year won’t tell you what comes next, the act of considering annually what lies ahead shows that if you have a long enough horizon, the ESG risks of today can end up changing the risk profile for investors tomorrow.

Each of these trends is shaping society. Together they hint at the risks and opportunities that may exert a pull on investment portfolios, and the forces that investors may be confronting, in the years and decades to come.