TalkingPoints: How to Engage ESG in More Meaningful Ways

The outperformance of funds that take environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues more seriously than their peers has reinforced why investors might want to integrate these factors into portfolios via the type of tools that S&P Dow Jones Indices has developed.

Encouraged by evidence of the materiality of ESG issues during the Covid-19 led volatility, there is greater appetite for sustainable themes in investor portfolios to align investments with one’s values and potentially generate higher risk-adjusted returns. At the same time, fuelled by greater transparency over how companies act and behave, and also spurred by trends in public opinion towards issues that matter to society as a whole, investors are seeking ways to leverage data and research to gain greater exposure to ESG factors.

Amid these trends, Mona Naqvi, Head of ESG Index Strategy for North America at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI), spoke with AsianInvestor to explain the importance of financial materiality and other key ways to assess ESG, to help it be a core building block in portfolio construction.