Ruth Sunderland, the group business editor of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, asks industry leaders and thinkers about the purpose of companies. Should they be organisations designed to generate profits for the benefit of shareholders, or do they have a bigger role to play in society? What part do they play in environmental policy? Ruth investigates ESG investments, which claim to promote environmental, social and corporate governance best practice, and have become a trillion pound industry. Why has ESG become a flashpoint in the US political culture wars and could the same happen in the UK?Presenter: Ruth Sunderland Producer: Farhana Haider Editor: Clare Fordham Sound Engineer: Nicky Edwards Production Coordinator: Maria OgundeleContributors: Mark Goyder Founder, Tomorrows Company Euan Munro, Chief Executive, Newton Investment Management Merryn Somerset Webb, Senior Columnist at Bloomberg. Philip Gill, small Investor Giulia Chierchia, Executive Vice President for Strategy, Sustainability, and Ventures at BP Louise Oliver, Co-Founder, Piercefield Oliver Chartered Financial Planners Rachel, Small investor Dr Nina Seega, Director for the Centre for Sustainable Finance at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership Tariq Fancy, Former Chief Investment officer for Sustainability Investing at BlackRock Witold Henisz, Vice Dean and faculty director of the ESG initiative at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

University of Cambridge economists Dr Kamiar Mohaddes and Dr Nina Seega discuss the macroeconomic shock from the COVID-19 pandemic, the current trajectory of recovery investments, and how policymakers can respond to the need to invest to meet climate change commitments. They explore forecasted impacts of the pandemic on the global economy, challenges and opportunities for investing in a green economy, the economic costs of climate change, and messages for policymakers on prioritizing a green recovery.