ESG Risk Canvas: a conceptual model for structuring the identification, analysis, and response to ESG risks

Abstract

Abstract The advancement of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda has increased the complexity of organizational risk management, while the literature remains fragmented across materiality, risk analysis, governance, value chain, and disclosure practices, hindering integrated and decision-oriented approaches. This study aims to propose the ESG Risk Canvas, a conceptual, systematic, and visual model to structure the identification, analysis, and response to ESG risks. The research adopts the Design Science Research approach, based on a critical and integrative literature review, to structure and formalize the model’s constructs. The results reveal recurrent gaps associated with conceptual fragmentation, the disconnection between materiality and risk, and the lack of structures that integrate strategy, governance, and organizational response. As a result, the ESG Risk Canvas organizes ESG risk as an interdependent system by integrating business logic, strategic goals, stakeholders, materiality, interconnected risks, organizational responses, investments, and measurement and audit mechanisms into a single analytical framework. It is concluded that the model reduces conceptual ambiguities, promotes organizational alignment, and enhances strategic decision-making by structuring the transition between diagnosis and action in complex organizational contexts.