ESG Factors, Materiality and Sustainable Equity Investing
The term “ESG factors” can be used to denote both qualitative and quantitative ESG factors. Qualitative ESG factors might reflect ESG principles or values which transcend the investment policy of a fund. Quantitative ESG factors might refer to ESG scores, a systematic methodoloy for rating the ESG credentials of companies, or some kind of ESG factor investing methodology. With legislation in some countries likely to place an increasing focus on ESG materiality and environmental responsibility, ESG investing and ESG research is taking an ever-increasing share of asset managers’ resources and allocations.
The library of research on ESG materiality contains papers from State Street, LGIM, Neuberger Berman, Eaton Vance and Russell Investments. Some of the best white papers on ESG factors has been written by HSBC GAM, LGIM, Robeco, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, the World Bank and the UNPRI.
To access the full list of research and white papers, covering ESG factors, materiality and sustainability investing, just click above on ‘Show all ESG and sustainable investing research‘ – this will reveal search filters, allowing you to narrow down to the ESG or sustainble investing topic that you are looking for.
The white paper library is powered by Savvy Investor – the world’s leading reference hub for pension funds and other institutional investors. The site has aggregated the world’s best ESG and Ethical Investing papers, enabling investors to quickly identify the most popular papers from the hundreds of ESG research papers that have been written.
There are many different approaches to the implementation and integration of ESG factors. Some of the most authoritative work on this topic has been done by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing (UNPRI) and our library features a number of ESG integration papers from this source. But excellent papers on ESG implementation and integration have also been written by Jacobi, HSBC GAM, CFA Institute, Invesco, QMA and Robeco, to name but a few. Again, all of these white papers on ESG implementation can be found within the ESG white paper library.
On the Savvy Investor site, investors will find a wide variety of research posts which summarise sub-topics within the ESG and ethical investing theme. This includes impact investing primers, the best papers on ESG and responsible investment trends, discussions on ESG Factors, the top sustainable investing papers of 2018, papers on ESG and low carbon investing and the best recent papers on sustainability investing for institutional investors.
The motivation for ESG investing is a controversial topic. Should ethical investing, good ESG stewardship and sustainable investing be an end in itself? Or should investors be seeking to profit financially from their ethical behaviour? As this question has grown in importance, a number of researchers have tried to answer the question, “How do ESG decisions affect investment returns?” Indeed, some asset managers are starting to incorporate ESG factors into a multifactor investment model, arguing that such factors will deliver alpha over the long-term as the world adjusts to the necessity of a sustainble future. A number of these papers can be found in a recent research report which includes research on ESG Factor Investing.