ESG investing

Fund managers are increasingly speaking with one voice on issues around climate change, with at least 143 global firms so far joining the ‘Net Zero Asset Managers’ initiative. Several big ones signed up last week. The Australian signatory managers and international firms with strong Australian commitments are, by accident or design, implying increased pressure on…

The rapid adoption of ESG strategies, particularly in the wholesale market segment, should prompt a rethink of portfolio construction, according to Janus Henderson Investors. Adding ESG to the mix can cause unexpected tilts. In a global media webinar series last month (June 23-24), Adam Hetts, the manager’s US-based global head of portfolio construction and strategy,…

The rise in impact investing in the past few years has been spurred along by the rise in ESG investing generally, which in turn has been spurred along by climate-conscious investing. For fund flows, climate wins hands down. Nuveen, the active funds management arm of TIAA in the US, is one of the oldest and…

While ESG investing through equities attracts most of the limelight, fixed income is increasingly gaining the attention it deserves. The asset class is, after all, about 40 times the size of the equities market. In a webinar last week to coincide with World Earth Day (April 22), Insight Investment Australia hosted Joshua Kendall, the firm’s…

ESG investing continues to polarise institutional investors around the world, with a surprisingly large number considered ‘contrarians’ who tend to buck the trend to ESG’s adoption and integration. This is one of the outcomes from research by Nuveen, the NYSE-listed global funds management arm of big US-based TIAA (formerly TIAA-CREF), a profit-for-members financial services organisation….

They may be late to the party compared with Europe but companies and investors in the Asia Pacific region have taken to ESG principles and practices in a big way. They are particularly concerned about ‘greenwashing’, according to BNP Paribas. In a webinar for the region’s media earlier this month (February 5) three ESG specialists…

Almost all global pension investors expect post-COVID financial markets to follow a ‘W’ path or play an accordion-like tune, a new survey has found. Whatever the shape of the future, it will not be smooth. The study, by UK-based research firm Create, shows almost half of the respondents projected a W-shaped recovery ahead while 36…

Governance is the pillar of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles that investors have been actively considering for the longest period of time. This is not surprising, as in some ways, it could be said that governance is probably the most important aspect of ESG. An organisation’s board’s role is to appoint the CEO and…

While the active versus passive debate rolls on, and on, across the investment world, some active managers have gone to the ‘dark side’, at least partially, by adding more quantitative inputs for new strategies, such as thematic investing. The concept of ‘thematic’ investing, which describes the strategy of identifying sectors of the economy expected to…

Melbourne: ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is one of the fastest growing trends ininvesting globally. It has become part of the funds management zeitgeist, aided, in part, by research pointing to betterperformance by fund managers that favour companies with good ESG policies and practices.The recent decision by the Trump administration to restrict the ability of…