ESG Matters: COVID-19 proving out value of Sustainable Investing

April 22, 2020

In an unprecedented, chaotic, and uncertain environment, sustainable investing is standing out as a reliable strategy – and is getting the attention it deserves. While there has been momentum for awhile, there are now three pretty exciting elements playing out at the same time:

Sustainable investing products are outperforming traditional vehicles by a wide margin during the current market sell-off. 1
Capital is flowing out of traditional mutual funds – but into sustainable investments. 2
A spotlight is shining on corporate behavior during the response to COVID-19, bringing social and governance factors to the foreground. 3, 4
Perigon’s Bud Sturmak talk Sustainable Investing in the time of COVID-19 with Evan Zall from Longview Communications

<iframe title="vimeo-player" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/409885672" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

ESG Matters- Sustainable Investing in 2020 from ESG Matters on Vimeo.

Sources: 

1. Morningstar: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/973590/us-esg-funds-outperformed-conventional-funds-in-2019
2. Morningstar: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/977328/despite-the-downturn-us-sustainable-funds-notch-a-record-quarter-for-flows 
3. Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/content/457fc6d2-4f94-4a1f-bfb7-4142a45480c4  
4. Fortune: https://fortune.com/2020/04/14/coronavirus-responsible-business-leadership-covid-19/

Written by Bud Sturmak
Partner | Co-CIO

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