CSR, ESG, Legacy, Impact: Creating a common language for sustainability

With climate and sustainability coming to the forefront of tourism and events in 2024, we have seen varied terminology being used, and new catch-phrases being introduced into our day-to-day life. We are likely to be familiar with CSR and ESG, but how well do we know legacy and impact?

The language is not new across a broad range of sectors however, they are relatively new to the tourism and events sectors being communicated more regularly with the drive towards a regenerative tourism model.

For a recap, we thought it would be helpful to revisit what all of this means and our view on the best definitions (yours might be different too!). So lets look at how they came about and what is the context now.

While the concept of business philanthropy has its origins in the 1800s, Corporate Social Responsibility (aka CSR) in it’s contemporary definition was coined by American economist Howard Bowen in the 1950s, who was widely known as the ‘father of CSR’. Academic scholars identified CSR in the 1960s as a response that businesses could undertake to address societal issues. Through the 1970s and 1980s the term became widely adopted and helped to build an understanding and foundation for the term we use widely today.

ESG is an acronym for Environmental, Social, Governance. While the origins are speculated, the term has been in circulation for the past few decades. It is likely to be heard more commonly in the North American markets, and it has become a flexible moniker that varies widely in context and application when it comes to business standards or strategies. A well implemented ESG strategy will address each pillar individually within the organisation as well as how they intersect. Each pillar would also be measured simultaneously and the greatest impact would be created through the intersected outcomes.

Legacy is a Latin term, with its etymology in the late 14th century from legatus and then legatia referring to “persons sent on a mission; ambassadors or envoy”. In the mid 15 century, the relationship with property was identified and the definition extended to “property left by will or a gift by will”. More recently legacy is recognised as being a gift or something that gets left behind. Something tangible. Within tourism and events we might hear about a legacy project or legacy programme which is often developed as a result of intentional actions or activities. We often see legacy used interchangeably with impact - which can be confusing.

Impact is from the Latin term impingere or impactus meaning to “push into/drive into” or “press closely into something”. The usage of ‘impact’ that we are seeing now stems from the term ‘social impact’ which was identified in 1969 at a Yale University seminar on ethical responsibilities of institutional investing. Impact in it’s more contemporary form means change or marked effect. When we discuss social impact in tourism and events, we are considering the societal change that can occur as a result of a set of intentional actions or actions or activities. Social impact needs to be measured to be effective and we are starting to see destinations, event organisers, visitor attractions all engage in the language of social impact. Social impact is an extension of sustainability, which typically focuses on environmental impacts. Social impact can also be a broad term which includes a suite of impacts - cultural, environmental, economic, social.

We are seeing legacy and impact come to the forefront of the events sector. Both are used when considering and measuring the long-term outcomes that events can make within a destination.

With all of this terminology in mind, do have have consensus on the definitions? Do we feel comfortable using this language more commonly? How can we include social impacts as a measure in our future planning?