Everything’s bigger in Texas, including its budget. Last year, UT Austin’s endowment became  the second largest in the country. With such an endowment, the University also spends a lot of money. However, there is limited information as to how the University’s spending affects the community. 

Environmental, Social and Governance is a criteria often used to determine an organization’s social footprint and measure community impact. More specifically, ESG focuses on an organization’s environmental impact, civic awareness and governing factors.

UT should publish ESG reports of its spending to improve transparency and increase social accountability. With greater transparency, the University would be held to a higher standard of accountability regarding its spendings’ local impact.

While ESG is most commonly used as an investing metric, its applications are increasingly being applied to various causes outside of investment. ESG metrics are important for a variety of reasons. 

First, ESG quantifies a broad range of impacts into a simple score: for example, a high ESG score means an organization is keeping up with high expectations. These scores encourage higher standards by pointing out specific areas of improvement. In providing more comprehensive, readable ESG reports to the University body, everyone would be able to see how UT’s spending matches up to our expectations.

Economics sophomore Ryan Walker speaks about UT’s transparency regarding environmental and social impacts.  

“I mean, I’ve never really heard them say anything about their environmental impacts,” Walker said. “Even just a little something here and there would be better than what they do now.”

For many students, even just a little more transparency would build greater trust between students and UT’s administration. Right now, it’s difficult for students to access data regarding the various impacts of Texas’ expenditures. If students aren’t shown the social value of their payments, they cannot hold the University accountable for their spending’s impact. 

According to UT’s Financial and Administrative Services, UT administration does not publish ESG reports.

In the past, UT released a sustainability report reflecting on its commitment to “stewardship of the environment”, but this report did not include the full breadth of UT’s spending and was last released for the 2019-2020 academic year. Including social and governmental factors would clarify how our expenditures impact the wider UT community and possibly bring attention to historically overlooked and underfunded causes, such as diversity and inclusion efforts and leadership composition. 

There are still ways for the University to be more transparent about its spending. By integrating ESG into UT Austin’s framework, the University could better communicate with its community about its budget goals and performance. If the UT cannot change the fundamentals behind its spending, let’s at least try to keep up with the higher transparency standards of today.

Laky is an economics sophomore from Chicago, Illinois.