Both the financial sector and the real economy are faced with increased regulatory requirements and expectations of various stakeholders to meet ESG criteria, which are a benchmark for sustainability and sustainable investments. A high ESG rating not only promotes corporate policy, but also serves the profit interest of investors.

Currently, in the EU only capital market-oriented companies with an average of more than 500 employees and financial institutions/insurance companies are required to report. In the future, the limit is to be lowered to 250 employees and to non-capital-market-oriented medium-sized companies.

While historically the focus was more on the concept of sustainable finance, which assumes that an appropriate alignment of private financial flows is the most effective way to achieve politically set environmental and social goals, a further thinking can now be heard, especially in Germany:

Human capital management is not only becoming increasingly important for investors, but also influences the external image of the company. Promoting this is and will continue to be a central role of HR management.

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