By Magali Horbert, Sustainability & Strategic Communications Manager, FIDI
What’s in a word? If you’ve spent any time working in corporate sustainability, you’ve probably noticed the shift over the past few years when it comes to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). ESG – once the hottest acronym in business – is now, at best, a cautious afterthought and, at worst, a toxic term to be avoided at all costs.
I recently came across a short documentary produced by the Financial Times, titled: Who killed the ESG party?, that captures and explains this sentiment. ESG, it suggests, was overhyped, over-marketed, and eventually undermined by geopolitical shocks, political backlash, and corporate ‘greenwashing’.
But here’s the thing: the death of a buzzword is not the death of corporate sustainability. In fact, if we apply the Gartner Hype Cycle principle, ESG is simply entering its ‘mature adult’ phase. We’ve moved past the Peak of Inflated Expectations (2020-2021) and landed in the Trough of Disillusionment (2023-24), and are now heading into the messy phase of embedding sustainability into business fundamentals, with regulatory guardrails ensuring that commitments translate into action. This isn’t the end of ESG; rather, it’s the beginning of corporate sustainability as a serious, structured business priority.
Short-term politics vs long-term reality
Yes, the political winds are shifting. The US has seen a sharp backlash against ESG, which will most probably get worse over the next four years; and in many European countries, nationalism and economic short-term interests are actively pushing back against the EU Green Deal, seeking to dismantle or weaken its policies. But economic decision-makers are fully aware that corporate sustainability isn’t just a political game: it’s an economic and risk management necessity. The WEF Global Risks Report 2025 makes this very clear: climate and environmental issues top the list of long-term risks. Investors and businesses that ignore this do so at their peril. There is a fundamental mindset shift happening, not just among EU policymakers but also among consumers, employees, and long-term investors.
The best parallel would be the early days of the EU’s GDPR. When this European regulation on data privacy was introduced, many companies outside the EU assumed they could ignore it. But today, data privacy standards worldwide have been shaped by it. Experts say the same will happen with corporate sustainability legislation. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and related regulations are already reshaping how businesses worldwide think about reporting and accountability. ESG labels may be fading, but sustainability compliance is here to stay.
What this means for the relocation industry
For those of us in the international relocation business, the key takeaway is simple: this isn’t going away, so you had better get to grips with what this means for your company. Anyone who tries to ‘sit this out’ and return to business as usual will lose, big time. But there’s no need to panic, either. Unlike fossil fuel-intensive industries, our sector doesn’t need to reinvent itself completely. Instead, we need to focus on:
Understanding our impact: where are our biggest sustainability challenges? How do we measure them in a standardised way? Who in our supply chain has the real decision power to drive meaningful change – and how do we get them to take the ‘right’ decisions?
Setting targets and sticking to them: who holds whom accountable? How do we ensure that best-in-class performers are rewarded? How do we distribute costs fairly across the supply chain?
Working together: this is not a competition. The only way to drive real, scalable impact is through collaboration. Industry associations play a key role in setting standards, but they need active participation, funding, and support from their members and partners to make real progress.
One of the unique strengths of our industry is that we are large and globally connected enough to drive meaningful change, yet small and niche enough to harness the power of personal relationships that form the backbone of our business. The relocation supply chain is highly interconnected: today, your company might be a supplier, tomorrow a booker, and next week a partner on a major relocation project. This fluidity gives us a rare opportunity: to unite, collaborate, and develop practical, standardised solutions that benefit the entire industry. Because one key element of the corporate sustainability concept is business sustainability, i.e., the survival and longevity of your company and the industry in which it operates.
Turning sustainability goals into action
Industry associations are already taking steps to move sustainability from theory to practice. FIDI, for instance, launched a carbon measurement platform in April 2024 to help international moving and DSP companies track and report their emissions in a standardised way. EuRA is joining this initiative in 2025, and CHPA is developing a similar tool for corporate housing. The goal is to create a unified approach to carbon measurement that makes sense for all stakeholders across the supply chain.
During 2025, FIDI will be collaborating closely with FEDEMAC on a project to develop bespoke templates for moving companies to align their reporting on EU CSRD requirements, with the purpose again to simplify sustainability reporting for the relocation supply chain.
Meanwhile, The Coalition for Greener Mobility is working to align expectations between relocation suppliers, RMCs and their corporate clients. This effort aims to ensure that reporting frameworks are practical for service providers and meaningful for buyers.
Beyond reporting, the industry is also working on defining what sustainability looks like in practical, impactful terms for our business. Industry leaders and associations are collaborating to develop best practices and implement solutions that work across the board. This is a work in progress, but the momentum is real, and the focus is shifting from compliance to meaningful impact.
ESG is dead, long live corporate sustainability
The shift away from ESG terminology doesn’t mean sustainability is losing relevance – far from it. Companies will increasingly embed sustainability into core business strategies, integrating it with risk management and long-term profitability. Regulatory frameworks such as the CSRD will drive standardised, measurable impact, ensuring that transparency and accountability replace vague commitments and greenwashing.
Indeed, superficial claims and unverified sustainability ratings will no longer fly. Companies that treat sustainability as a mere marketing tool rather than a business necessity will struggle to compete (and will burn their fingers). Legislators, investors and clients are demanding real action, clear accountability, and measurable impact. Those who fail to adapt will find themselves losing relevance in an economy increasingly shaped by sustainability driven regulations and consumer expectations.
I’ve never liked how ESG crept from the financial sector into corporate sustainability. It siloes environmental, social, and governance factors instead of recognising their interdependence and the all-encompassing nuances of sustainability. It creates overly simplistic, one-size-fits-all labels that often miss the real business case for sustainability. Sustainability is broader, more adaptable, and fundamentally about long-term business resilience. And that’s why, despite the ESG backlash, the underlying momentum isn’t going anywhere. The party might be over, but the work is just beginning.
