How Do CFA Institute Members Integrate ESG into Investment Decisions?

The role of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues in investment decision-making continues to gain momentum as more investors seek out companies that value corporate governance, work to improve the environment, or take continual steps to enhance corporate governance and address environmental and social challenges.

Matthew Orsagh, CFA, director of capital markets policy at CFA Institute, recently participated in a webinar to discuss a CFA Institute member survey on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. The webinar was co-hosted by CFA Institute and the Investor Responsibility Research Center Institute. More than 140 global participants tuned in to the webinar, which is archived here.

The survey found that nearly three-quarters of survey respondents incorporate ESG analysis into their investment decision-making process in some way. They ranked board accountability, human capital, and executive compensation as the issues most important to investment analysis and decision-making. The main reasons survey respondents consider ESG issues are to manage investment risk and because their clients demand it. A majority of survey respondents believe that ESG disclosures should be subject to some type of verification, but are undecided on what such verification should cost.

The webinar also includes a spirited Q&A session that further explores how financial practitioners use ESG data in their investment analysis and decisions. View now.

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to Market Integrity Insights.

Image Credit: iStockphoto.com: cienpies