Corporate Sustainability in Transition: Mapping India’s Shift from CSR to ESG

The 21st century faces the dual challenge of economic growth and climate change, with scientific consensus urging drastic emission reductions. India is also one of the major emitters that must balance development needs with sustainability imperatives, necessitating corporate involvement in climate action. This paper evaluates whether Indian corporate law has evolved enough to tackle the climate crisis by critically comparing CSR’s expenditure-based framework with the emerging Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) paradigm. Using a doctrinal and comparative methodology, the paper analyses statutory provisions, judicial precedents, SEBI’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR ) framework, and regulatory trends across the EU, US, UK, Australia, South Africa, and Asia (China and Singapore). While CSR mobilised corporate funds, it often remained a compliance exercise lacking impact assessment and governance integration. By contrast, ESG emphasises measurable performance, fiduciary duties, and investor-driven accountability. The analysis reveals that ESG in India is still nascent, limited to top 1,000 listed companies, and vulnerable to greenwashing, regulatory fragmentation, and lack of independent verification. The paper argues that reforms are essential embedding ESG into fiduciary duties, mandating third-party audits, expanding scope to SMEs, and aligning disclosures with financial reporting. The contribution of this paper lies in mapping India’s halfway transition from philanthropy to governance and proposing a roadmap for transforming ESG into a credible corporate law mechanism capable of addressing the climate crisis.