“The green transition may face shifting political winds, but Global 100 companies are staying the course.” [COMMENTARY] This is my favorite annual global ranking of sustainable companies! In part, it’s because it accounts for the sustainability of what these companies produce, sell, and invest in. Very few companies’ sustainable rankings include these important metrics. 2025…

“The coming energy policy shift under President-elect Donald Trump and new regulations overseas are prompting investors to be more cautious, but they will likely have a limited impact on the sustainable investment market in 2025 and beyond, analysts and financial firms predicted.” [COMMENTARY] The thrust globally for investing in sustainable and ESG-focused investments is likely…

“Around 85% of the Chief Investment Officers surveyed for McKinsey said that ESG is an pivotal factor in their investment decisions. Around 60% of respondents screen their entire portfolio for ESG issues, and around 80% evaluate individual company positions in terms of how ESG impacts projected cash flows.” [COMMENTARY] This is an interesting background paper from…

“Young investors’ zeal for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) began to wane in 2023. In the latest survey, conducted in the fall of 2024, it fell off a cliff. In 2022, for example, 44% of young investors thought it was ‘extremely important’ for investment companies to use their size and voting power to influence the…

“Definitions of what a green bond is must be streamlined urgently to attract funds needed for the green transition, the World Bank Group’s private investment arm said, as markets brace for a backlash on sustainable investments from the incoming Trump administration.” [COMMENTARY] The International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a major issuer of green bonds- cites…

“In 2024, the main driver for participation by institutional investors in sustainable investing was demand from clients or other external stakeholders. The share of asset owners and managers who cited this as the reason stood at around 90 percent. Other primary factors driving the shift towards green investments included portfolio risk reduction and compliance with…

“Financial advisers are neglecting the demand for sustainable investments. To fill in the gap, here’s our guide to the best green funds in 2025.” [COMMENTARY] I believe the issue of financial advisors shunning green funds is cultural, universal, and goes back decades. However, as time moves on the problem is gradually receding particularly, as investors…

“European regulators are already asking companies to report on environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, risks for their businesses. Increasingly, companies will be asked to share how their businesses impact the world around them. This two-pronged assessment is called double materiality.” [COMMENTARY] In the US this ‘double materiality’ will become a highly fraught issue. The Trump…

“In 2025, companies are expected to undergo significant adaptations in their approach to ESG initiatives, including a shift in focus towards material risks and opportunities, increased importance of corporate governance, and increased legal risks” [COMMENTARY] This article provides an interesting perspective on companies’ potential ESG policies in 2025. The policy “Prediction 3: ESG integration into…

“This study offers investors actionable insights into the benefits of SRI ETFs, demonstrating their ability to provide stable returns and reduced risk during economic downturns.” [COMMENTARY] Anti-ESG proponents love to tell you that SIN stocks outperform ESG stocks, particularly in rough economic circumstances. Well, this study says the opposite is true: ESG stocks outperform SIN…

“More than 60% of US consumers want companies to stay out of politically charged conversations, up 10% from 2022. Interestingly, political conservatives are most likely to say they wish brands would remain mum—though even liberals are also growing tired of corporate activism.” [COMMENTARY] If companies believe that ‘speaking out’ on a particular topic affects their operations,…

“As sustainability-aware investors look ahead to 2025, six themes are likely to dominate their lists. They include environmental, social, and governance regulations, carbon-transition investing, sustainable bonds, the reshaping of the global ESG fund landscape, biodiversity finance, and the ethics of artificial intelligence.” [COMMENTARY] The 2025 investment themes expressed in this article come from a great…

“Understand the business case for ESG investment, the benefits of sustainability, long-term value creation, and more.” [COMMENTARY] This is a good overview of the ESG investing case. ESG and shareholder value: Making the case for sustainable investment, by Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting, December 17, 2024, Thomson Reuters, USA.

“US SIF analysis, based on submissions to the SEC, records the US market size as $52.5 trillion, of which $6.5 trillion (12%) was specifically identified or marketed as sustainable or ESG investment, setting a new baseline for the size of the market.” [COMMENTARY] That “12% specifically identified or marketed as sustainable or ESG investment” has…

“The shift in focus was triggered by the intensive use of data and artificial intelligence (AI) that came after the Covid pandemic, finds the Sustainability and Climate – Trends to Watch 2025 report, published by US index provider MSCI. And this shift was particularly evident with data security- and supply chain labour management-related issues, which,…

“Some of the top reasons that people may be reluctant to embrace sustainable investing turn out to be nothing but misinformation, Sarah Sung, head of sustainable investing at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, argues.” [COMMENTARY] The myth that sustainable and ESG-based investing is mostly about climate change is the one that most infuriates me. This is…

“Atkins has expressed skepticism about the SEC’s role in mandating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. His preference for a materiality-based framework suggests he may seek to scale back or revise the SEC’s climate-related disclosure rule, which has faced legal challenges.” [COMMENTARY] Mr. Atkins might be less interested in specific ESG disclosures, but he does…

“A new paper co-authored by Professor Edward Watts examines how retail investors trade after news about a public company’s environmental, social, and governance activity. The findings offer clues about how investors weigh these factors.” [COMMENTARY] I think this quote from the article (and paper) sums up the findings of this research: “Investors treat ESG information…

“For the second year in a row, the top spot was awarded to Merck, with an impressive overall score of 97.83, up from 91.98 last year. Other notable names on this year’s list include Adobe, PayPal and HP.” [COMMENTARY] This is a good ranking, though its findings are unremarkable. Newsweek: America’s Most Responsible Companies 2005,…

“We survey 509 equity portfolio managers from both traditional and sustainable funds on whether, why, and how they incorporate firms’ environmental and social (“ES”) performance into investment decisions.” Sustainable Investing: Evidence From the Field, FEB-RN Research Paper No. 18/2024, November 2, 2024, Alex Edmans, Tom Gosling, and Dirk Jenter — all based at the London School of Economics,…