ESG Articles

As the transition towards a low carbon, more sustainable world accelerates, many investors have assumed that ESG is connected with the impact needed to address the world’s environmental and social challenges for the simple reason they hear the term so often. But there’s more to it than that. So what is ESG? And what isn’t it?

Sustainable investment strategies such as ESG and impact investing have been through a challenging couple of years with recent performance headwinds translating into a slowdown in funds under management growth momentum.

Most successful investors will testify to the fact that selecting outperforming stocks is as much about identifying high quality management teams as it is about analysing the numbers, arguably more so. With outperformance in mind, one of the leading indicators of a high quality management team is their ethics. It’s an area worthy of investor attention.

As more investors understand the performance-enhancing and risk-reducing benefits of investing in ESG oriented strategies, demand for ESG data is on the rise. That’s all good and well, but how can individual investors benefit from integrating ESG scores into their decision-making process without being ESG experts?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is leading the global scientific assessment of climate change, estimates that human activities have already caused around 1°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. If global warming continues at the current rate, the IPCC estimates it will reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052.

Ethical investment funds aren’t new. Some people have always shunned investments associated with harmful activities such as uranium mining, deforestation and arms manufacture. Instead, they’ve looked for opportunities in renewable energy, education and healthcare.