As an institutional arrangement, ESG（environmental,social and governance） can comprehensively evaluate the sustainable development performance of enterprises in the three core areas of environment, society and governance. Based on 388 CSSCI （Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index）source journal research articles on ESG from 2016 to 2024, the development history, theoretical focus and research network of ESG were analyzed. The research shows that the development of ESG has gone through three stages: embryonic stage, development stage and maturity stage. At present, its research themes focus on three aspects: implementation background, rating system and practical significance, but there are still problems such as relatively dispersed cooperation.