I am tired of this ESG sh*t.

I miss the simple kind of sustainability we had back then—the “just do it” type.

We knew the benefits each project brought: more forested area, better biodiversity, improved livelihoods, enhanced skills for better employment, protected children, and better education opportunities. Project proposal done, budget approved, execution completed, report written. Direct and straightforward. Everything we did was real.

And what are we seeing today?

Talking about the future more than the present. All kinds of risk assessments. Resources are allocated to predicting the future, even when we don’t know if that is the future we are actually heading toward, or just the future they want us to enter.

Issues that need our attention right now—war, hunger, disease, mental health, and an aging society—are set aside. Money and manpower are poured into meeting compliance needs, piling one report on top of another. Real work is put on hold.

I want to keep working in sustainability, but the current landscape really breaks my heart sometimes. One new sustainability reporting standard comes out after another. Before we even master the previous one, there’s a new one tomorrow. Reports are finished, but before the real work can even be implemented, another report is due.

Spending days and nights writing tons of reports, I wonder if this paperwork will actually be useful or if it’s just another document sitting there collecting dust. We yearn to work on the ground, missing the good old days when impact mattered more than paper—when the smiles on beneficiaries’ faces mattered more than regulators.

How long can I continue doing this? I don’t know. But I have seen many people quit.

I started with a passion and courage that fueled me to keep walking this path. It’s not always sunny, but when it rains, I know it will stop and the sun will return to the sky.

To all my sustainability comrades out there, let’s keep pushing forward—because I truly believe that brighter days are ahead.

May all beings be happy.

Love,
Jia Xin