There might be some political debate about the motivations behind the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) movement here in the United States—especially at the state level, where at least 19 states have proposed some form of "anti-woke" legislation. 

But there's no debating this: The respondents to Baker McKenzie's latest "The Year Ahead" survey cited ESG disputes as a burgeoning source of risk at their companies. For the seventh year, the firm asked senior legal and risk professionals from companies with more than $500 million in revenue what they anticipate in the year ahead. In this year's survey, ESG was by far the type of dispute that the 600 respondents—professionals based in the UK, the U.S., Singapore, and Brazil—cited most frequently as a potential risk to their organizations. 

Almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents cited ESG disputes as a source of risk for 2024. ESG far outpaced the second-most-cited risk source—employment disputes, which were mentioned by 52 percent of respondents. The number citing ESG was up from 58 percent last year, when it was the second-most-cited source of risk behind cybersecurity/data. This year, cybersecurity/data fell from the top of the table; whereas 62 percent of respondents mentioned it last year, it came in sixth this year, cited by just 34 percent of respondents.