ESG Hub — Open-Access ESG Encyclopedia

esg-hub.ascent.partners — a free, open-access encyclopedia of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) knowledge by Ascent Partners Foundation: 350+ articles, 240+ curated external resources, books, courses, and a video library — available in English, Chinese, and Hindi.

Features

• Knowledge base — 350+ ESG articles across standards (GRI, IFRS S1/S2, TCFD, TNFD, ESRS), regulations, frameworks, ratings, and regional (HK/APAC) guidance
• AI search — ask questions in natural language; answers grounded in the knowledge base (SurrealDB BM25 + vector search, DeepSeek, Brave Search across authoritative ESG domains)
• Public REST API — open access to all content: /api/v1
• MCP server — connect AI agents directly: @esg-hub/mcp-server
• Learning resources — free courses, books, and a curated video library
• i18n — English, Chinese, Hindi

Tech stack

Next.js 15 (App Router, React 19) · SurrealDB Cloud · Tailwind CSS v4 · next-intl · Vitest + Playwright · Vercel

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/simonplmak-cloud/esg-hub.git
cd esg-hub
pnpm install        # note: requires sibling repo ../tool_package (private)
cp .env.example .env  # fill in your own values
pnpm dev

Useful commands: pnpm lint · npx tsc --noEmit · npx vitest run · pnpm verify:db

Note: the app renders content from a SurrealDB database — you need your own instance and content to run a full copy. The public site and API are freely accessible without running anything.

API & MCP

• REST API: open, no auth — GET /api/v1/pages, /api/v1/search?q=..., /api/v1/resources, /api/v1/meta (docs)
• MCP server: see mcp-server/ — gives AI agents tools to search and read the knowledge base

Contributing

• Content errors (wrong/outdated info, dead links): open a content error issue
• Bugs and code changes: see CONTRIBUTING.md
• Security vulnerabilities: report privately via SECURITY.md

License

• Code: MIT
• Encyclopedia content: CC BY-SA 4.0 by Ascent Partners Foundation