Biodiversity is about the health of the planet on which we depend. As Partha Dasgupta put it: “our economies are embedded within nature, not external to it”. Investment is beginning to recognize that.
Biodiversity is becoming an investment issue
esginvesting Archives
Greenwashing: Caring achieves nothing without regulation; regulation achieves nothing if nobody cares.
Regulatory steps, such as improved disclosure, are essential tools against greenwashing. But the real difference comes when people care about and engage with the disclosures. Caring makes greenwashing both more difficult and less worthwhile.
Six questions to ask about your ESG policy
“Hold on a moment”, you may be thinking. “Didn’t you just write a post about the five tests of an ESG policy?”
Well, yes I did. But sometimes we need to revisit things. And it turns out there are not just five tests, but six.
The Financial Times says ESG investing is dangerous. I disagree.
It is wrong to attack ESG as a smokescreen, distracting from effective policy action. Public policy is the highest priority, but it alone will not be enough. We need investor action too. Don’t write off every investment manager as irredeemably part of the problem.
What can’t be measured well can still be managed. On climate impact, it needs to be.
Better measurement of ESG factors is important. But it’s not enough. We can’t afford to wait for perfect measurement before taking other action.
Best practice in ESG investing: not just the sum of the parts
ESG becoming mainstream could just mean splicing together the standard investment tradition with social responsibility, hoping not to do too much damage to the integrity of either in the process. Best practice, though, is more than that; it is a synthesis.
ESG investing: how different is the US?
The US is different when it comes to ESG investing. The key to understanding that difference may lie in the unspoken context, in the things that are taken for granted.
It’s handy to express natural and human capital in financial terms – here are four reasons that’s tough to do
It’s handy, and often necessary, to look at ESG factors through a financial lens. But it only captures part of the picture.
When asset managers start talking to clients about their sustainability preferences, where will it lead?
A new EU rule due to come into force later this year will require asset managers to take account of a client’s sustainability preferences. This will affect product strategy, reporting, and more.
Are externalities a financial or a non-financial consideration for an investor? Either way, they’re a big deal.
The rise of ESG investing, to a large extent, boils down to an increase in the attention being paid to externalities.