ANALYSIS: Is Privacy an ESG Win? SEC Filing Trend Says Yes

Virtual office parties won’t be the only corporate trend to look out for during this holiday season. Our analysis of SEC filings from the past five years shows a burgeoning pattern of companies explicitly categorizing their compliance with data privacy regulations and voluntary standards as an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matter.

To conduct our analysis, we searched through publicly filed Form 8-Ks, by which companies disclose current material events (e.g., entering a major agreement that carries privacy risks), and Form 10-Ks, which contain comprehensive annual reports. We marked as relevant each filing whose wording expressly identified “privacy,” “cybersecurity,” ...