Mapping global conversations on twitter about environmental, social, and governance topics through natural language processing

Social networks represent an important communication vehicle for various stakeholders, including political organizations, civil society, public figures, digital influencers, and companies. Corporations use social networks to interact with their audience, seeking to externalize their achievements related to the issues of interest to their customers. The primary purpose of this study was to provide insight into the general behavior of companies based on their Twitter conversations related to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues and activ-ities. As an underlying idea, the study advocates that social media play a significant role in setting the agenda of Environmental, Social, and Governance factors in business conversations on Twitter. Therefore, it was based on a sample of tweets from 167 Brazilian, French, and American companies, from February 7, 2008, to September 29, 2021. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques were used to analyze conversations about ESG issues on Twitter and identify the network of topics and their trend. More than 6 million tweets were collected in 3 different languages. It was found that in recent years, the popularity of Twitter as a platform for discussions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ESG issues, clean and cleaner production has increased significantly. Although incipient and embryonnaire, the analyzed companies are investing and sharing their practices related to clean production in their social networks. Discussions on twitter are focused on corporate environmental management (Planet, Environmental impacts, Environmental Management, Water, Energy, etc.), corporate climate change management (Emissions, Carbon, Climate change, Commitment to tackling climate change etc.) and clean and cleaner production (Re-cycling, Emission Reduction, Reducing impacts and waste, waste man-agement, circular economy, green development etc.). Practically, all company twitter conversations about ESG revolve around these topics. This demonstrates the concern of companies with these issues. In this context, it is important for companies to invest more and more in clean energies, innovations, clean and cleaner technologies. The effective implementation of these practices is essential for the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Automated summary

Social networks are an important tool for communication among different stakeholders, and this study focuses on analyzing companies' behavior on Twitter regarding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. It highlights the role of social media in shaping the conversation on ESG in business discussions on Twitter. The study analyzed tweets from 167 Brazilian, French, and American companies and found an increasing popularity of Twitter for discussions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and ESG issues, particularly clean and cleaner production. The conversations on Twitter mainly revolve around topics such as corporate environmental management, climate change management, and clean production.