Advancing ESG

Everyone’s talking about ESG, but how do we move from ambition to meaningful impact?

This new report from the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab (FRIL) unpacks that challenge and points to a clear answer: regulatory innovation.

While ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) principles have risen to the top of board agendas, the path to embedding them meaningfully into financial services is still full of complexity with ambiguous frameworks, inconsistent data, and evolving disclosure standards. But amid that complexity lies an opportunity for change.

This paper flips the conversation. Instead of focusing on ESG as a reporting burden, it highlights how purpose-driven innovation, especially from fintechs, can reframe ESG as a strategic advantage.

Highlights include:

• How fintechs are creating tools that democratise ESG insights, enabling smaller firms to lead, not lag.
• The power of transparency tech, enabling consumers and investors to make informed choices in real time.
• Regulatory leadership as a catalyst—not a constraint—for embedding long-term sustainability in financial decision-making.

Through FRIL’s ESG Innovation Call, the report captures the pulse of the ecosystem: entrepreneurs, regulators, academics, and institutions coming together to explore how data, collaboration, and innovation can unlock the next wave of ESG progress.