FYI: This week, the world's largest asset manager went all in on ESG — a set of environmental, social and governance investment criteria that has recently swept through the marketing departments of much of the financial industry. BlackRock announced that it will launch a range of ESG-focused ETFs in the US and Europe that will enable investors "to align their investments with their values and long-term financial objectives."
To justify the move, chief executive Larry Fink recited a favourite claim of recent devotees, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays: investors will be better off if they invest sustainably. As he told the FT:
We are going to see evidence over the long term that sustainable investing is going to be at least equivalent to core investments. I believe personally it will be higher.
Unfortunately for Fink, new findings do not support this claim.
Regards,
Ted
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/10/25/1540440001000/Moral-investments-aren-t-outperforming/
