This brief article is a refreshing reminder that the survival of ESG investing is not dependent on achieving a state of perfect and comparable data sets. To the contrary, imperfect data sets are an opportunity for active managers. And perhaps most importantly, we are reminded that ESG investment vehicles don't make themselves, nor are they the [...]
In this newly published white paper, Rogers and Serafeim deftly walk us through how issues evolve into relevant, material issues. This dynamic has been underdiscussed and remains under appreciated. And yet it is critically important in a world where ESG factors continue to emerge as drivers of return and destroyers of value. How Sustainability Issues Become [...]
Many investors are attracted to the low fees charged by passive index funds. But are these passive funds good stewards of investors’ assets? This Reuters article explores the proxy voting record of passive funds and raises important questions around investor engagement. Or worse, what happens when it is abdicated. Reuters: Index funds invest trillions but rarely [...]
As interest in ESG investing has steadily grown, investment products capitalizing on this demand have flourished. This NPR article explores how ESG fund designed can vary, and how investors can be surprised to learn the extent to which they resemble conventional investing. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/26/771323268/as-investors-try-to-be-more-ethical-some-find-no-escape-from-businesses-they-det
This paper out of Demos Helsinki gives long overdue attention to asset valuations as held on company balance sheets, and their vulnerability to ESG risks. While typically addressed in the context of the oil industry, where reserves may be referred to as “stranded assets”, here the authors make the point that various ESG risks similarly threaten [...]
The Intentional Endowment Network (IEN) together with Catalyst at Large (led by Suzanne Biegel) led the efforts of a Gender Lens Investing (GLI) working group to produce a GLI primer. The objective was to create a tool that would introduce educational endowments to the concept of GLI, while laying out the reasons why such an investment [...]
Mannequins erected in London's Marble Arch to promote Safer Cities for Women Day. Image: Action Aid Because many of us are not practiced in identifying the influence of gender, it’s common to assume it is irrelevant to businesses, the environment, the economy, etc. Even the suggestion that gender plays a role can take people by surprise. [...]
A meta study evaluating the findings of 2,200 empirical studies, this is one of the most important ESG white papers published over the last several years. 90% of the studies identified a neutral or positive relationship between ESG and financial performance, with the large majority positive. The positive relationships were stable over time, further establishing the [...]
Jeremy Grantham returns to a topic he first addressed in 2013. Not a discussion for the faint of heart, Grantham systematically addresses various underlying biological and ecological trends. He draws the trend lines forward to illustrate how we appear poised to undermine our ability to thrive in the future. His frustration with systemic intransigence is as [...]
According to the International Labour Organization, in 2016 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage. This is the largest number of people enslaved at any time in history. A crime that disproportionately affects women and girls, forced labor is deeply embedded in many [...]
