May 24, 2021
The financial industry has always had an affinity for acronyms, and ESG is one that a diverse group of market participants has readily embraced.
Environmental, social, and governance investing is not an entirely new concept. But the technologies used to develop ESG-oriented strategies have advanced since a small group of institutional and retail investors first sought 50 years ago to closely align their values with their investments. And now this once-niche market segment is opening to a much wider audience.
We at S&P Dow Jones Indices estimate that industrywide assets under management for ESG-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) increased to $170.4 billion in 2020 from $58.8 billion the prior year. S&P Global Ratings projects sustainability-linked bonds to surpass $700 billion in 2021, while green bond issuance reached nearly $270 billion last year.
As the new Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Finance Leaders Fellowship, Kara Gustafson is mobilizing a global community of finance industry leaders for a journey that ignites their passion and directs their skills and talents toward solving some of society’s most complex challenges. Fellows include people like the CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices, CFO of General Mills, a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, the recently nominated Director of the CyberSecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency for the White House, and the Head of Enforcement at the New York Stock Exchange – just to name a few.
So, what does the finance industry – a sector often knocked for causing harm and distrust – and the leaders of it, have to do with catalyzing positive social change? Kara says: a lot. And she knows first hand what the potential is as a member of the founding team of Goldman Sachs’ corporate philanthropy work: A role she held for fifteen years that transformed the way the big b
the Boston Globe, NPR, CNN, and MSNBC.
Prior to joining Woodwell Climate Research Center, Dr. Duffy served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as a Senior Advisor on the White House National Science and Technology Council. Before joining the White House, Dr. Duffy was Chief Scientist at Climate Central, an organization dedicated to increasing public understanding and awareness of climate change.
About Amanda White
Amanda White is responsible for the content across all Conexus Financial’s institutional media and events. In addition to being the editor of Top1000funds.com, she is responsible for directing the global bi-annual Fiduciary Investors Symposium which challenges global investors on investment best practice and aims to place the responsibilities of investors in wider societal, and political contexts. She holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Masters of Art in Journalism and has been an investment journalist for mor
The spirit of green: how corporates can reduce externalities at no cost to shareholders
About William NordhausWilliam Nordhaus was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which is part of the United States). He completed his undergraduate work at Yale University in 1963 and received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1967 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. He has been on the faculty of Yale University since 1967 and has been Full Professor of Economics since 1973 and also is Professor in Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Professor Nordhaus lives in downtown New Haven with his wife Barbara, who works at the Yale Child Study Center.He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is on the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research and has been a member and senior advisor of the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, Washington, D.C. since 1972. Professor Nordhaus is curre
. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus, the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Free to Be Foundation, and the Women’s Media Center in the United States. As links to other countries, she helped found Equality Now, Donor Direct Action, and Direct Impact Africa. For her writing, Steinem has received the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Front Page and Clarion awards, the National Magazine Award, the Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations, and the University of Missouri School of Journalism Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism. In 1993, her concern with child abuse led her to co-produce an Emmy Award–winning TV documentary for HBO,