Corporate Governance and ESG * Principles as Strategic Drivers of National Development in Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes the importance of ESG (environmental, social and governance) in the contemporary corporate landscape and the organisational changes associated with its integration. Using a hypothetical-deductive approach and a review of the literature, the paper is structured in three parts. First, it examines John Elkington’s ideas, their role in the evolution from the triple bottom line to ESG, and their effects on corporate practice. Second, it clarifies the concept of sustainable development, its relationship to ESG, and the organisations that operate under this agenda. Third, it assesses corporate governance and compliance as vehicles for implementing sustainable development. The study is motivated by accelerating environmental change and social concerns: companies have committed to sustainable development and ESG, but these commitments must be translated into practice through sound governance and compliance. The analysis is anchored in Brazil’s legal and market features. It identifies concrete enablers, such as the Anti-Corruption Law (Law 12.846/2013), the General Data Protection Law (Law 13.709/2018), B3’s listing segments and the IBGC Code, and persistent frictions, including ownership concentration, the weight of state-controlled firms, supply-chain informality and uneven enforcement. Brazil serves as the reference point for the proposals advanced in the paper.