ESG is for corporates. Authors are individuals. This is just "anti-woke" whinging by another (dimly related) name.

Authors especially comic ones are usually part of big publisher like Marvel or DC that own the IP and call the shots. They also have ESG scores and they decide which activism to include that increases the score and raises more investor or government funding.

A lot of authors are commissioned though, basically given a brief of what to write. More often than not in more commercial franchises though, e.g. Marvel, Warhammer, video game adaptations / tie-ins, Minecraft, Manning books, etc.

But that goes into the realm of commercial media, vs "artistic" media where authors can just do whatever they want, and maybe they'll find a publisher and get successful.