The Fundamentals of ESG & Sustainability (2026 Edition) | ESG Institute Bangladesh
2026 Edition ESG Institute Bangladesh

The Fundamentals of
ESG & Sustainability

ESG is not complicated. It is just unfamiliar.
Nine chapters. Six characters. Every concept taught through a real situation, not a definition.

9
Chapters
200+
Pages
6
Characters
27
Figures
BDT 300  ·  Instant download
BDT 1,299  ·  Free delivery in Dhaka
The Fundamentals of ESG and Sustainability 2026 Edition by Shadman Sakib Anik
Why This Book

Not a textbook.
Not a manual.
A practitioner's narrative.

Every other ESG fundamentals book is a policy document or a framework glossary. This one is neither. It teaches ESG the way it is actually learned — through situations, decisions, and people trying to figure it out in real organisations.

Not a framework manual

GRI, ISSB, TCFD, CDP — explained when you need them, through the experience of someone encountering them for the first time.

Not written for specialists

Written for the CFO who received investor ESG questions his team couldn't answer. The supply chain director who got the NGO call. The CEO doing the right things in the wrong order.

Written like Michael Lewis, applied to ESG

Narrative non-fiction. By the time you finish, you understand ESG — and feel like you sat in the room while it was being figured out.

"The investors asking these questions could see the regulation coming. They were asking early because they needed the answers early. The companies that wait for the mandate to force the question will be playing catch-up when their peers have three years of clean data."
— From Chapter 1: The ESG Story: How We Got Here
Who Should Read This

If ESG is arriving faster than your ability to handle it — this book is for you.

You do not need to be a sustainability expert. You need to be responsible for something ESG will affect.

📊

CFOs & Finance Directors

Understand why investors are asking questions your IR team cannot answer — and what a real ESG management system looks like from a financial lens.

🌿

Sustainability Managers

Recognise your own situation in Nadia — who had the expertise, the data, and the plan, but not the mandate. Learn how the mandate is built.

🏛

Board Members & Directors

Understand what genuine board ESG oversight looks like versus governance theatre — and why investors examine this first.

📢

IR & Communications Teams

See why ESG as communication and ESG as management produce different outcomes — and what happens when an investor reads the gap.

🔗

Supply Chain Leaders

Priya's chapter is for you. Understand why supply chain is now the front line of social due diligence — and what a credible response requires.

🎓

Students & Researchers

The conceptual foundation before opening a framework document — the history, logic, and context that makes everything else make sense.

Table of Contents

Nine chapters. Six characters.
One complete picture of ESG.

Each chapter opens with a scene. The concept follows the story.

01
Reza · CFO · The trees slide
The ESG Story: How We Got Here
A CFO. A slide deck labelled ESG Roadmap. Slide two: a photograph of trees. The investor questions his team cannot answer. Where ESG actually came from — and why it is not going away.
Investor originsWho Cares Wins 2004Corporate failuresRegulatory direction
Reza
CFO
02
Marcus · CEO · The conference panel
Sustainability Foundations
A CEO speaks fluently about stakeholder capitalism, then cannot answer a Scope 3 question at networking drinks. The gap between sustainability as communication and sustainability as management.
Brundtland to SDGsPlanetary boundariesTriple bottom lineESG as a system
Marcus
CEO
03
Nadia · Head of Sustainability · Eight weeks, one intern
Environmental
Sixty-three investor questions. Nine green, fifty-four red. Eight weeks and one intern to build an environmental baseline from almost nothing. The GHG inventory, the two risk types, and why the data challenge is real but learnable.
Scope 1, 2, 3Transition riskPhysical riskBiodiversity & TNFD
Nadia
Head of Sustainability
04
Priya · Head of Supply Chain · 7:43 on a Tuesday
Social
A call at 7:43 AM. An NGO report names a supplier Priya has never heard of. Tier-two. The conditions documented are part of her supply chain whether she knew or not.
Labour rightsLiving wageUN Guiding PrinciplesSupply chain due diligence
Priya
Head of Supply Chain
05
Daniel · Portfolio Manager · The letter to the Chair
Governance
Fourteen directors, two with twenty-year tenure, none with climate expertise. He sends a letter. The Chair calls two weeks later. The pause before his answer is the data point.
Board oversightESG pay linkageAnti-corruptionGovernance gap assessment
Daniel
Portfolio Manager
06
Nadia + Leila · The alphabet soup · Assurance examiner arrives
Frameworks, Standards & Codes
Nadia puts a list on the desk: GRI. ISSB. TCFD. CDP. SASB. TNFD. "Which one?" Leila arrives with the draft in three highlighter colours. The third colour means: this claim cannot be supported.
GRI 2021IFRS S1 & S2TCFD four pillarsFramework convergence
Nadia + Leila
Practitioner & Auditor
07
Daniel · Three screens · Three different scores
ESG Ratings & Assessments
MSCI: AA. Sustainalytics: Medium Risk. S&P CSA: 38/100. Same company. Same period. "Which one do we use?" The answer is: that is not the right question.
MSCI · SustainalyticsS&P CSA · CDPScore divergenceRating vs performance
Daniel
Portfolio Manager
08
Marcus · 18 months later · The activist letter
ESG Strategy & Integration
A hedge fund holding 3.2% sends four pages: seventeen inconsistencies between year-one commitments and year-two disclosures. Three days mapping what was done versus what was said.
Double materialityTarget-settingFive failure modesGreen bonds & SLLs
Marcus
CEO
09
Reza · 7:48 AM · The morning it went live
Reporting & Disclosure
The call comes at 7:48. The company's first sustainability report is live. Reza sounds tired in the way people sound when something genuinely hard is finally finished. What the fourteen months actually involved.
Report structureGRI content indexAssurance spectrum10-step process
Reza
CFO
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Shadman Sakib Anik — Founder and Executive Director, ESG Institute Bangladesh
300+
Professionals
Trained
About the Author

Shadman Sakib Anik

CSRM™ CESGS IFRS Foundation AEP UNGCNB Knowledge Partner

Shadman Sakib Anik is the Founder and Executive Director of ESG Institute Bangladesh — South Asia's only dedicated ESG education and credentialing institution, and the IFRS Foundation's sole Authorised Education Partner for the FSA Credential in South Asia.

He has sat in the rooms this book describes. The characters are fictional. The situations are not. Every scene is a version of something he has witnessed — in a boardroom, in a working session, in a conversation he was not always supposed to be part of.

ESGIB is the Knowledge Partner of UN Global Compact Network Bangladesh. Shadman has trained professionals across banking, RMG, pharma, FMCG, and telecom — and published two previous books on ESG practice.

300+
Professionals Trained
3
Books Published
10+
Years in ESG
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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this for beginners or experienced practitioners?

Both. A beginner can read it cover to cover and leave with a complete picture of ESG. An experienced practitioner will find the frameworks, figures, and failure modes immediately useful as professional reference.

How is this different from a standard ESG textbook?

A textbook defines and lists. This book teaches through character and situation — the CFO who started with a photograph of trees, the supply chain director who got the NGO call at 7 AM. Same concepts. Completely different way they land.

What format is the e-book?

PDF. Fully formatted, searchable, readable on any device. Download link delivered immediately after purchase via the email you provide at checkout.

Do you deliver outside Dhaka?

Yes — delivery available across Bangladesh. Charges apply outside Dhaka. For international delivery, contact info@esginstitutebd.com before ordering.

Can my organisation buy multiple copies?

Yes. For 5 or more copies — training programmes, corporate libraries, team purchases — we offer discounted rates. Email info@esginstitutebd.com with your requirement.

Can I get an invoice for my company?

Yes. An invoice can be issued for both individual and bulk purchases. Mention your organisation and billing details at checkout, or email us after purchase.

"It says we started late. Later than we should have. But it also says we are being honest about that. We are not describing where we want to be as if it is where we are. We are describing where we are and where we are going — with named people accountable for the journey." — Reza, CFO · The morning the report went live · Chapter 9

Ready to understand ESG properly?

Nine chapters. Two hundred pages. One book that tells you what ESG actually is, where it came from, and what it requires — without a single photograph of trees.

ESG Institute Bangladesh · esginstitutebd.com