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

Abstract

The advancement of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda has increased the complexity of organizational risk management, while the literature remains fragmented between materiality, risk analysis, governance, value chain, and disclosure practices, making it difficult to integrate 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 approach of Design Science Research, based on a critical and integrative review of the literature, to structure and formalize the constructs of the model. The results show recurrent gaps associated with conceptual fragmentation, the disconnection between materiality and risk, and the absence 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, favors organizational alignment and qualifies strategic decision-making by structuring the transition between diagnosis
and action in complex organizational contexts.