{"id":35666,"date":"2022-08-25T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=35666"},"modified":"2024-07-07T20:04:37","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T00:04:37","slug":"reflecting-on-the-esg-industrys-strong-foundation-and-bright-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/reflecting-on-the-esg-industrys-strong-foundation-and-bright-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on the ESG Industry\u2019s Strong Foundation and Bright Future"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to July 2024 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Tim(Above:\u00a0 Jesse Jackson, Tim Smith and Donna Katzin at a demonstration in the 1980\u2019s calling on Citibank to end lending to the apartheid government in front of the bank’s headquarters in NYC.)<\/h5>\n

(First published Sept. 2022)<\/em> In light of my forthcoming retirement in December 2022, I am especially pleased to be included in this 30th<\/sup> anniversary issue of GreenMoney<\/em>. It has been a tremendous privilege to be embedded in the evolution of ESG Investing for 50 years, first at ICCR and then at Boston Trust Walden.<\/p>\n

This is an occasion to look ahead at the ESG industry\u2019s future. But that is best done by reflecting on the foundation laid by investors over the last plus 50 years. In 1971, the Episcopal Church filed the first shareholder resolution calling on General Motors to leave South Africa because of its racist system of apartheid, a historic moment. That resolution ushered in a new era of shareowner engagement, including two decades of work on South Africa. Global economic pressure from investors and governments played an important catalytic role in making the apartheid regime negotiate, leading to a peaceful transition to power sharing and the election of Nelson Mandela as President.<\/p>\n

Also, the ESG industry\u2019s history is marked by major long-term campaigns, like the infant formula campaign leading to a global code of conduct, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of infants. And early work on issues of diversity, human rights, climate, and the environment \u2013 both in direct operations and throughout global supply chains \u2013 were essential stepping stones for future work.<\/p>\n

Building on that past, let\u2019s look at some encouraging signs that promise a bright future for the industry\u2019s ESG work. At the same time, let\u2019s also look pragmatically at the challenges for the next quarter century. Obviously, this is a best guess on my part, but that is the nature of crystal ball gazing, isn\u2019t it?<\/em><\/h2>\n

Clearly there has been an explosion of interest and involvement in ESG or Sustainable and Responsible Impact Investing (SRI), especially in the last two decades. For example, US SIF\u2019s 2020 Report\u00a0on US Sustainable and Impact Investing\u00a0Trends <\/em>points to a total of over $17 Trillion in US AUM in ESG, an increase of 42% since 2018. And the Principles for Responsible Investing has 3750 global investor members with over $110 Trillion of AUM (depending on market swings, of course). These asset managers and asset owners pledge to integrate ESG into their investment practices believing these issues have a distinct impact on the bottom line. Many also commit to active ownership, urging transparency from the companies in which they invest. Of course, we could all debate the actual figures and how legitimate these ESG practices are, but it is undeniable that ESG investing is expanding in the marketplace. This \u201cgenie is not going back in the bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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