| Sustainable Portfolios for Asset Owners Should investors care about how a company generates earnings ? In the past the answer was likely a “no” and investors were satisfied to be plain shareholders. But recently, sustainable investing has given rise to a new type of investor: the asset owner. For this investor, financial and non-financial performance of a company need to be maximized to obtain the most value. Shareholders and asset owners can use a wide range of financial tools to decide on buying or selling stocks, and regulatory agencies have put in place laws that ensure a good flow of corporate financial disclosure. Asset owners, however, need to also evaluate non-financial data that is voluntarily released, unregulated and outside the realm of financial theory. Fortunately, a wealth of data on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics of companies is now available that gives asset owners the ability to measure, monitor and compare companies across the market. Armed with these new insights, asset owners can tackle the challenge of bringing ESG into the investment process. |
