International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Rudy Shoushany
Abstract: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis has become the dominant grammar of corporate non-financial accountability, yet its tripartite architecture was conceived in 2004, before the smartphone, large scale cloud computing, platform data economies and generative artificial intelligence reshaped organisational risk. This paper advances a governance first theory of ESGT, in which technology is elevated to an explicit fourth pillar, denoted T, encompassing artificial intelligence governance, algorithmic accountability, data governance, digital ethics and responsible technology, and cybersecurity. The framework is organised around an auditable pillar principle, namely that a governance dimension earns recognition only if it can be measured and assured, and it therefore anchors the T pillar in a mature stack of standards, including ISO/IEC 42001, the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act, the NIST Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, COBIT 2019 and ISO/IEC 27001. Particular weight is placed on COBIT 2019, whose explicit separation of governance from management, seven governance components and design factor tailoring supply the architectural template through which the T pillar is structured and made auditable. The contribution is threefold. First, the paper documents the technology gap across the major reporting standards, drawing on recent evidence that fewer than one in ten large European firms disclose artificial intelligence as a risk category. Second, it answers the central objection that technology governance is unmeasurable by mapping the T pillar to auditable instruments and by drawing on the scholarly construct of Corporate Digital Responsibility (Lobschat et al., 2021) for its normative content. Third, it engages the strongest counterarguments, namely dilution, framework proliferation, redundancy and rating divergence, and specifies the empirical conditions under which a separate pillar is justified rather than mere integration. The framing is global and standard agnostic, intended to inform standard setters, boards and investors.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21533094
