The Sanlam ESG Barometer, in partnership with Business Day, featured a special edition this year focused on the B20 Policy Impact Special Report aligned with SA’s G20 presidency.
While the ESG Barometer has previously focused on ESG performance among listed companies in SA and Kenya, the 2025 edition focused on the real-world impact of B20 policy recommendations from the past three years, specifically analysing how these proposals transition from recommendations to G20 adoption and, ultimately, to concrete government actions and programmes.
By mapping this impact pathway, the report illustrates the critical role B20 recommendations play in global policy development and evolution.
The launch of the B20 Policy Impact Special Report, held on October 7 in Sandton, Johannesburg, unpacked what meaningful influence looks like in global governance and, more importantly, how African voices and priorities can be better reflected in the process.
Lyndon Barends, MD of Strategic Partnerships at Arena Holdings, the owner of Business Day, said ESG was no longer a compliance exercise, but could be a catalyst for economic growth. He said ESG outcomes must ultimately touch the lives of ordinary people and secure a better future for all.
Discussing the evolving role of ESG in global finance and the critical need for Africa to lead in this space, Paul Hanratty, Group CEO of Sanlam and chair of the B20 Employment & Education Task Force, said ESG considerations were now central to capital allocation, risk management, investor interest and building thriving societies.
Defining ESG as the collective effort to build economies that are sustainable, inclusive and governed with integrity, he said the goal of the report was to motivate for change and for its insights to be translated into measurable impact.
Indeed, the Sanlam ESG Barometer: B20 Policy Impact Special Report is intended to be a call to action for business leaders, policymakers and civil society to establish a blueprint for accountability, collaboration and tangible progress.
It’s not enough to support policy. We must shape it, fund it and live it
— Mxolisi Mgojo, BUSA president and B20 SA co-chair
One of the persistent themes of the launch event was that the private sector must transition from passive support to active co-ownership and leadership in implementing policy.
Pointing out that the B20 SA presidency is a pivotal moment for the continent on the global stage, Mxolisi Mgojo, president of Business Unity SA (BUSA) and B20 SA co-chair, said: “It’s not enough to support policy. We must shape it, fund it and live it.” He added that success must be measured in terms of lives improved, jobs created, technologies deployed and communities uplifted.
Handing over the recommendations of the B20 Policy Impact Special Report to the G20 presidency should be considered as the “starting block”, not the “finish line”, Mgojo said, adding that the real work would be ensuring that the recommendations were acted on.
A central theme of University of Free State Chancellor Professor Bonang Mohale’s keynote address was the extent to which corruption and poor governance undermined progress in terms of moving policy recommendations to real-world delivery. Even well-designed technical solutions will fail unless governance issues are addressed. SA urgently needs ethical leadership to heal a divided nation with leaders focused on improving the quality of lives of the majority, as opposed to an opportunity for self-enrichment. Politicians, he said, needed to prioritise service delivery and good governance to restore trust.
Research and strategy firm Krutham conducted the research underpinning the B20 Policy Impact Special Report. The report includes an analysis of the B20 recommendations over the past three years to ascertain which have been adopted and implemented by G20 governments. It reveals that successful proposals are clearly aligned with G20 priorities, specific institutional or financial mechanisms, measurable targets, continuity through legacy structures, broad stakeholder engagement and a focus on the public good.
Effective policy implementation, said Nicole Martens, head of Impact Investing Research at Krutham, requires mutual trust between the public and private sectors. However, corruption erodes the foundation of trust essential for the private sector and government to engage effectively.
“It’s very difficult to motivate the effort required to motivate a B20 proposal if there is no trust that the public sector will implement it effectively,” she said, adding that corruption is not limited to African countries or developing countries, but is a global issue.
It’s very difficult to motivate the effort required to motivate a B20 proposal if there is no trust that the public sector will implement it effectively
— Nicole Martens, head of Impact Investing Research at Krutham
The launch featured two expert panel discussions.
The first focused on how to move from policy recommendations to real-world delivery. The panel, which included Cas Coovadia, B20 SA Sherpa; Gaffar Hassam, executive responsible for corporate affairs and strategy at SanlamAllianz; Lorraine Mekwa, client experience managing executive at Sanlam; and Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership SA (BLSA) and co-chair of the B20 SA, discussed strategies to ensure that B20 proposals don’t remain theoretical but translate into tangible actions that accelerate sustainable development.
The panel agreed that there needed to be shift from conversation and discussion to delivery and execution. This includes clearly aligning goals and definitions and systems to force execution on selected issues to maximise impact. Effective implementation requires public-private partnerships and the adoption of a blended finance approach to de-risk and fund large-scale projects. In addition, a mechanism to track implementation and impact needs to be created.
The second panel discussion focused on how businesses — particularly those with global reach and local roots — can turn the report’s insights into impact and leverage their influence to ensure that Africa’s priorities are not only heard but acted on in global forums.
The panel, which included Mgojo; Hanratty; Shameela Soobramoney, CEO of the National Business Initiative (NBI); and Thando Maeko, senior political correspondent at Business Day, discussed the need for simplicity, pragmatism and leveraging internal control rather than waiting for large-scale external fixes. Grand strategies are often hard to get off the ground because they require too many people to agree and sign up. Instead, businesses should start with simple things and get them implemented. They should focus on micro-level adjustments that, when leveraged across many areas, can lead to significant overall productivity gains.
Chile’s economic turnaround, for example, illustrates just how effective these micro-level adjustments can be. The Chilean government focused on improving productivity in the 50% of the economy under its direct control through simple, direct measures such as eliminating unnecessary overtime in the public service and cracking down on excessive sick leave.
The panel agreed that businesses needed to take action rather than wait for government or another entity to come and fix problems. SA’s energy crisis, which forced companies to implement their own power solutions, was — ironically — a big favour in terms of greening the economy.
The over-arching take-out from the launch event was that meaningful implementation of B20 policy — central to Africa’s prosperity — required a decisive transition from passive policy support to active co-ownership, supported by mutual trust, simple execution and rigorous accountability systems across all sectors.
Visit the Sanlam ESG Barometer website to download the full B20 Policy Impact Special Report and watch a recording of the launch event.
This article was sponsored by Sanlam.
