ESG Links: Allocating With Purpose

Due to client demand, Ritholtz Wealth Management has created an ESG version of our classic asset allocation models, known as the Portland Portfolio. Research shows that high net worth families are increasingly interested in directing their investable assets toward companies with good records on Environmental, Social and Governance issues.

Please enjoy the below reads, curated by our in-house ESG expert, Joey Fishman. And if ESG investing is something you’d like to learn more about, talk to us here. 

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Public Pensions Must Recognize Their Duty to Address Climate Risk (The Hill)

Is Socially Responsible Capitalism Losing? (The New Yorker)

Putting the ‘S’ in ESG: Measuring Human Rights Performance for Investors (NYU Stern Center)

100 Practical Ways to Reverse Climate Change (Nat Geo)

We Can Still Act and It Won’t Be Too Late (Guardian / B. Obama)  

8 In 10 People Now See Climate Change as a “Catastrophic Risk” (Reuters)

How to Throw Away a Phone Without Ruining the Environment (Vice)

Should a CEO’s Bonus Be Based on Financial Performance Alone? (HBR)

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ESG DEFINITIONS / TYPES

Examples of ESG incorporation strategies can be summarized as follows:

Positive/best-in-class: Investment in sectors, companies or projects selected for positive ESG performance relative to industry peers. This also includes avoiding companies that do not meet certain ESG performance thresholds.

Negative/exclusionary screening: The exclusion from a fund or plan of certain sectors or companies involved in activities deemed unacceptable or controversial.

ESG integration: The systematic and explicit inclusion by investment managers of ESG factors into traditional financial analysis.

Impact investing: Targeted investments, typically made in private markets, aimed at solving social or environmental problems.

Sustainability themed investing: The selection of assets specifically related to sustainability in single- or multi-themed funds.

Click here for more….http://www.ussif.org/esg

Talk to us about ESG investing here.