Geopolitical Tensions and the Strategic Deployment of ESG: A Conceptual Framework for Norm Diffusion and Corporate Resilience

Abstract

The paper investigates the increasing confluence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) frameworks with geopolitical dynamics. ESG, previously a voluntary construct for corporates with multiple forms of sustainability, has become a strategic mechanism of global governance, institutional legitimacy and risk management. Using case studies from Eastern Europe, South Korea, Ukraine and environmental multinational corporations, the paper demonstrates how firms and states are leveraging ESG as a way to mitigate geopolitical risk, parcel to global norms and gain access to investment capital and market opportunities. The paper introduces a conceptual framework that brings together geopolitical risk, ESG strategy and regulatory institutionalisation and argues that ESG is functioning simultaneously as a buffer against uncertainty, a device of reputational signalling and a normative mechanism of global power. For policymakers from governments, multinational enterprises and international organisations to emphasise the point that ESG should be seen not as a marginal sustainability issue, but as a central pillar of economic diplomacy, post-conflict development and global standard-setting.