Sixty-nine percent of middle market executives responding to the survey said they were very or somewhat familiar with using ESG criteria to evaluate performance. That finding is a 30-percentage-point increase from 39 percent for the fourth quarter of 2019.

Sixty-six percent of expressed awareness of the issues also have made formal plans. The leading cause included in formal plans are environmental issues with 32 percent indicated these were in their plan plan

Larger companies were more likely to have ESG plans than smaller ones. Overall, 48 percent said  said their organizations are working to reduce net carbon emissions to zero or have already done so. The figure was 68 percent of companies with $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue and 23 percent for smaller companies. 

Twenty percent said climate change presents significant opportunities over the next three years, 28 percent said it presents significant challenges and 27 percent said it offers both.