Sustainable investing is set to surge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic (CNBC)

KEY POINTS 

• The outbreak of Covid-19 could prove to be a major turning point for ESG investing, or strategies that consider a company’s environmental, social and governance ratings alongside traditional financial metrics.
• Sustainable funds attracted record inflows in the first quarter amid the market turmoil, according to data from Morningstar, and many of these funds are outperforming the broader market for the year.
• Critics have said that ESG investing is merely a bull-market phenomenon, while others argue it represents a fundamental shift in investing.
• “Prior to this crisis there was a meaningful and increasing focus on ESG investing and it is likely that this focus will only increase following the coronavirus,” Goldman Sachs said in a recent note to clients.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/06/07/sustainable-investing-is-set-to-surge-in-the-wake-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic.html

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.

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