This report assesses environmental, social and governance readiness across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Readiness is examined through five interrelated dimensions: regulatory alignment; implementation and enforcement; corporate capacity; ESG data capacity; and access to transition finance. The evidence is current to September 2026, while each indicator is clearly identified by its applicable reference year. ESG can also be understood as an implementation and financing lens through which companies, financial institutions and public authorities contribute to sustainable-development outcomes. For the Western Balkans, the ESG agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals are not parallel tracks: ESG frameworks, reporting requirements, due-diligence expectations and sustainable-finance criteria create practical incentives to advance climate action, decent work, sustainable cities, water management, biodiversity conservation, resilient infrastructure, social inclusion and institutional effectiveness, the same outcomes that SDG frameworks track. Recognising this connection helps frame ESG implementation not only as a regulatory or compliance requirement, but also as a structured pathway towards the region’s broader sustainable-development and EU-convergence objectives.