The ESG Debate Heats Up: Four More Challenges (CFA Enterprising Investor)

https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2020/02/04/the-esg-debate-heats-up-four-more-challenges/

Investors and Managers: Now Join Hands.

As fires continue to ravage Australia, debates among environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment professionals have been blazing as well.

One LinkedIn commentator, Dr. Raj Thamotheram, observed:

“There is so much ‘sdg washing’ and ‘impact washing’ going on at the moment, it drives me mad. We shouldn’t pretend that buying a share of XXX in the secondary market is changing the world. Change is slow and incremental. [My employer] isn’t perfect, we try to put our best foot forward, that inevitably leads us to be optimistic in describing what we do on ESG. But I try to be as brutally honest as I can. I’m amazed at how many peers say in the PRI reports that they do ESG integration across all asset classes 100%. Really? And if so, what does that actually mean?

“The answers aren’t easy but the challenge is urgent and CEOs of member firms need to mandate corrective action in 2020.

Author: Christopher K. Merker, Ph.D., CFA

Christopher K. Merker, PhD, CFA, is a director with Private Asset Management at Robert W. Baird & Co. He holds a PhD in investment governance and fiduciary effectiveness from Marquette University, where he has taught the course “Sustainable Finance” since 2009. Executive director of Fund Governance Analytics (FGA), an ESG research partnership with Marquette University, he is a member of the CFA Institute ESG Working Group, an international committee currently exploring ESG standards, publishes the blog, Sustainable Finance, which covers current topics around governance and sustainability in investing, and is co-author of the book, The Trustee Governance Guide: The Five Imperatives of 21st Century Investing.

Twitter Facebook Linkedin