Institutions are already secretly giving every citizen an “environmental, social, and governance” score

What was once a rating metric reserved for businesses and lenders – the ESG score – is now rather alarmingly coming to individuals as well. These attempts at “convergence” of tracking and evaluating people and business entities is by no means unique or new, but if reports are to be believed, it is gaining momentum – while private citizens seem to be largely oblivious to it.

It was China who pioneered the often-dismissed as too invasive consolidated system of social credit, all the way back in 2011; its goal is to bring under one watchful eye the existing customer’s credit score, all the way to incorporating a wider range of social and personal data points.