To boost portfolio ESG quality and the potential for improved risk-adjusted returns
Article
by Scott LaBreche, Director at Impax Asset Management
The megatrends underlying the transition to a more sustainable economy, such as climate change and widening inequality, are global issues. It should come as no surprise, then, that companies are addressing sustainability risks and opportunities regardless of their domicile.
So investors may be wondering, how are companies in developed markets outside the U.S. and Canada performing on sustainability issues? It varies, of course, but on the whole, they are performing better than those in the U.S.
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore- -and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- -like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
- Langston Hughes, 1959, ‘Dream Deferred’ (Harlem) from The Panther & the Lash
by Doug Lynam, book author and financial professional
I’ve always hated talking about money. Growing up in a rich family, I learned through the behavior of those around me that money and materialism were evil. Instead of being used in love and service, money was weaponized and became a tool to manipulate and control behavior. So when I began studying philosophy and religion in high school and read the words of Paul the apostle, “For the love of money is the root of all evil,” I mistakenly believed Paul was right. I was a proto-monk in the making.
Resource scarcity in our globalized economy jeopardizes the abundance of countless goods, but one resource — as spotlighted by the recent coverage of the fires in the Amazon — underpins them all: land.
As investors look at land-based portfolio risks, the agriculture sector is at the center of their attention. This focus makes sense. As outlined in the IPCC’s special report on climate change and land use, agricultural commodities will be hit hard if harmful land use practices are not stopped.
Northern Trust has discovered the best way to bring female clients into the investment process is to show how their portfolio can fund their current lifestyle and their goals, instead of talking about how they are going to invest to beat the market.
by Gabe Rissman Co-Founder and President, YourStake.org
I rose to the podium, looked Exxon then-CEO Rex Tillerson in the eye, and spoke. “Why does Exxon fund climate-denying organizations, when you publicly support a carbon tax?” Tillerson deflected the question at the time: “we would never impinge on ALEC’s free speech.” D’oh. Two years later, in July 2018, Exxon ceased funding ALEC, the climate change denying organization I highlighted.
