Accelerating a Values-Based Economy

By: Aniqa Hijazi

The investment management industry is changing. Over the last decade, there has been a 400% growth in sustainable investment, and just in 2020, ESG assets went up by $51B. Although ESG has grown from a fringe idea to a rapidly growing section of the market, there hasn’t been a solid infrastructure in place that clearly outlines a business’s stance in environmental, societal, and governance values.

In the last six months, 19% of financial advisors have said they have ESG conversations with their clients. 61% said they felt comfortable discussing ESG-related issues with their clients. Those that are uncomfortable cited issues such as product availability, product research, and skepticism around the information given by providers as the reason for their hesitation. I believe that’s about to change as tools are developed to allow people to fully embrace impact investing.

I completely understand these wary adviser’s concerns. It’s been historically difficult to learn more about a company than its financial reports. We’re at the beginning of a considerable shift in investor’s appetites for companies that match their ethics. There is no standard definition for ESG investing. I firmly believe that if businesses want to attract investors, they will need to become fully transparent about their ESG data — from carbon…