The old Naval Air Station in Charlestown, RI was right next to the summer house we lived in as kids. Aviators would fly training patterns over our heads, so close we could see their orange flight suits. They would circle back to the airfield, touch wheels down, then come back around. Though we couldn’t see…
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. The FDA last month began a formal investigation into complaints that eating Lucky Charms was making people sick. On www.iwaspoisoned.com, a social media forum for food ingestion concerns, over 7000 reported serious stomach problems after eating the popular cereal. As responsible adults we had always assumed breakfast items…
We noted last week how various asset classes incorporate aspects of environmental, social and governance elements in their risk analysis of a business or manager. We wrap up our special series by examining how private credit integrates ESG into its various strategies. Credit managers are typically not involved in the direct management of businesses they…
Now that we’ve established the broad sweep of ESG’s domain as well as the challenges of reporting and disclosure, let’s take a look at how it gets implemented across various asset classes. Traditionally ESG resided in public equities given shareholder’s theoretical ability to change corporate behavior. As we saw in our earlier study of the…
So far in this special series we’ve outlined the history of the ESG movement, its complexities and challenges, and current themes in climate and social change, and governance. It’s clear that compelling dynamics are behind ESG in all its aspects. It’s also evident that defining, let alone organizing or regulating, such a multi-dimensional entity goes…
Now we come to the G in ESG. Governance’s link to environmental and social goals was cemented by the sub-prime debacle and resulting GFC. Corporate malfeasance and lack of transparency propelled the need to identify future responsible ESG parties and enforcement. The challenge, as one expert told us, is while governing considerations are most in…
As with climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), with its goals of broad representation, fair pay and equal opportunity have become the lens through which investors are judging both managers’ investment selections and their internal DEI efforts. And as with environmental sustainability, more DEI attention has driven global policy making and regulation towards disrupting…
Besides historic influences, climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion, and corporate accountability are now the lenses through which investors are assessing managers’ ability to understand the associated risks and opportunities for every investment decision. Despite the politics of climate change, the burden of scientific evidence and “rapid degradation of biodiversity and rise in extreme weather…
Today’s ESG river had many tributaries. Early practices screened out business activities perceived to harm the environment or society. Mosaic law dating back to 1500 BC, Koran precepts, Henry VIII’s lending legalization, 18th century England and Methodist movements, and the 20th century’s socially responsible investing (SRI) all have embodied “doing good.” In the last fifty…
Last weekend, we took our eight-year-old daughter to the library to get books on her school reading list. (The “Ready, Freddy!” series, if you must know). On the way out, a mother and her two young sons preceded us. The boys ran into the automatic revolving door. “No,” she said, opening the swinging door. “Come…