Lowest Number of S&P 500 Companies Citing “ESG” on Earnings Calls Since Q2 2020

During each corporate earnings season, companies often comment on their ongoing corporate goals and initiatives. Thus, did companies in the S&P 500 comment on environmental, social, and governance factors during their earnings conference calls for the second quarter?

FactSet Document Search (which allows users to search for key words or phrases across multiple document types) was used to answer this question. Through Document Search, FactSet searched for the term “ESG” in the conference call transcripts of all S&P 500 companies that conducted earnings conference calls from June 15 through September 14.

Of these companies, 61 cited the term “ESG” during their earnings calls. This is the lowest number of S&P 500 companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls going back to Q2 2020 (57). Since peaking at 155 in Q4 2021, the number of S&P 500 companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls has declined (quarter-over-quarter) in five of the past six quarters. Compared to Q1 2023, the number of S&P 500 companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls for Q2 2023 decreased by 18%.

At the sector level, the Industrials (13), Utilities (10), and Financials (9) sectors had the highest number of S&P 500 companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls for Q2. Combined, these three sectors accounted for 52% of the total number of S&P 500 companies discussing “ESG” on earnings calls for Q2 2023. On the other hand, the Utilities (34%) and Energy (22%) sectors had the highest percentages of S&P 500 companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls for Q2.

It is interesting to note that while the number of companies citing “ESG” on earnings calls decreased on a sequential basis in Q2, the number of S&P 500 companies citing “AI” on earnings calls increased on a sequential basis. For more details, read our Sept. 8 article, Highest Number of S&P 500 Companies Citing "AI" on Q2 Earnings Calls in Over 15 Years.

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