A recent TED Talk that caught our attention includes Chris McKnett making a solid case for investing in sustainability. In fact, several TED related talks focus on this topic and do an exceptional job demonstrating the benefits of this long-term strategy.
In McKnett’s talk, he highlights three additional components to sustainable investing that add to the commonly accepted and used financial indicators. He prefaces the discussion effectively disputing many of the common objections we hear. He argues sustainability and sustainable investing is “less complicated than you think, has better performance than you can believe and is more important than we can imagine.”
In McKnett’s talk, he highlights three additional components to sustainable investing that add to the commonly accepted and used financial indicators. He prefaces the discussion effectively disputing many of the common objections we hear. He argues sustainability and sustainable investing is “less complicated than you think, has better performance than you can believe and is more important than we can imagine.”
ESG:
- Environmental – Energy consumption, water availability, waste, etc.
- Social – Human capital, labor and human rights, etc.
- Governmental – Oversight of companies by investors (corporate governance)
- Financial outperformance (no tradeoffs) – “Environmental leadership is compatible with good returns”
- Improves and supports innovation.
- Supports a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
- Improves quality and supports continuous improvement.
- Contributes to long-term, future success. 80% of Global CEOs surveyed agree.
