“Is ESG investing, with its focus on environmental, social and governance matters, just a passing fashion or a really good long-term investment opportunity?” Julian Morris, Unicus Research

David Osman of the IRF is joined by Julian Morris, the Chief Economist of Unicus Research, which is based in New York.----more----

In addition to his expertise in economic and financial matters, Julian Morris is an acknowledged expert on environmental, health and technology issues with nearly three decades of relevant experience for ESG investing. ESG funds have become more popular with investors and have performed well in both 2020 and 2021. However, it is not so easy to define exactly what is (or is not) environmentally friendly, social or good governance. Increasing regulation and litigation are adding to the complexities for corporates and for ESG investors. In this podcast, Julian explains many of difficulties associated with green investing, including the reliability of ecolabelling and government-led green business initiatives. He also highlights the definitional problems of what constitutes a good ESG investment, particularly with respect to the social and governance aspects. Julian explains how the different characteristics of ESG can be incommensurate with one another. In doing so, he raises questions about the future of a ‘checkbox’ approach to ESG as a meaningful term for ethical and impact investing. Nevertheless, there are some interesting long-term ESG investment opportunities and Julian points out where Unicus Research has been able to identify profitable ESG investment situations.