Global Equity: ESG in the investment process

Wealthy individuals across generations are interested in investing for environmental or social impact, but Millennials are by far the most active in evaluating and indeed, demanding these strategies.

They will inherit billions of dollars saved by their baby-boomer parents and this new group of investors have different expectations as to how their money is managed. These investors are increasingly asking how their return is generated

We believe this shift is secular and this paper explains how we add value for our clients by integrating ESG into all aspects of our investment process.

Executive Summary:
Building on our Future Quality white paper this analysis frames how and why we integrate ESG factors into our investment process. We have considered the growing body of academic research as well as our own investment experience; ultimately concluding that ESG is an integral part of being a fundamental investor.
There are four pillars to Future Quality investing, each contributing to the investment case. Some, such as the strength of a company’s balance sheet give a picture of financial health at a set date. However, the majority of a company’s value is a reflection of its future earnings – hence our focus on Future Quality. We believe these future earnings are a reflection of the strength of both the company franchise and its management. We spend a great deal of our time on the analysis of these critical variables.

Download the full white paper here.