An investor blueprint for net zero

The U.S. president of the firm, who's retiring after this year, tells Investing IN Change where sustainable investing is headed and what’s going on with the political divide on a seemingly apolitical subject. Plus, Paul and Emile get into the details of the first lawsuit over ESG use in a 401(k) plan.

Related Article: Impax North America president Keefe to retire

Guest Bio:

Joe Keefe is president of Impax Asset Management. Based in the Portsmouth office, he is responsible for distribution of Impax’s full capabilities across North America.

Kiley Miller, principal director of sustainable investing at Envestnet, joins the podcast to talk about how the firm works with advisors on sustainability and ESG. A couple of case studies — on the heavy rail industry and water use in the IT supply chain — show how important ESG considerations can be.

Plus, Paul and Emile talk about the fallout from Bud Light’s now infamous marketing partnership with a trans influencer and the reaction to a column on that topic.

Related article: https://www.investmentnews.com/the-bud-light-case-for-esg-236936

Guest Bio:

Kiley Miller leads Sustainable Investing at Envestnet. She is responsible for the strategic development of Envestnet’s sustainable investment offering, which includes the expansion of technology embedded into the Envestnet platform, as well as sustainable investment solutions, research and data, and providing education and guidance on how to incorporate sustainable investing into advisor practices. Prior to joining PMC in 2019, Kiley was a senior client advisor at Sustainalytics, an ESG research, ratings and analytics firm. There she supported U.S. asset managers to integrate ESG research into the investment process. Kiley also previously worked at the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. Kiley holds an MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a BS in Environmental Sustainability with a double minor in Business and Environmental Economics & Law from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

April is Financial Wellness Month, and guest Jennifer Coombs, director of client success at Ethos ESG, talks about the role sustainable investing can play in financial education. Whether sustainability acts as a gateway to investing or is a topic being explored by seasoned investors, it’s an area that’s hard to avoid — and advisors and clients can only benefit from knowing more about it.

Paul and Emile also discuss the political climate and the demand seen for ESG-themed mutual funds and ETFs, sales of which fared better last year than sales of non-ESG funds.

Guest Bio:

Jennifer Coombs is the Director of Client Success for Ethos ESG, part of the ACA Global — ESG Data & Analytics team, deepening relationships with Ethos software users and helping financial advisors, asset managers and wealth managers build out competencies in ESG reporting and analysis. Prior to her current role, she was an associate professor at The College for Financial Planning for six years, and now serves as an adjunct professor for ESG programs. She is the creator, lead author and lead instructor for the Chartered SRI Counselor™ (CSRIC™) designation program, developed in partnership with US SIF, as the first professional financial education program in the United States exclusively devoted to sustainable investing.

Sustainable investment providers in some cases have had to rethink what types of holdings are acceptable — including controversial areas like oil and weapons. The energy crisis that resulted from the war has also put sustainable funds at a disadvantage, and many have underperformed the broader market.

Alyssa Stankiewicz, associate director of sustainability research at Morningstar, talks about how fund providers are adjusting to these conditions and how ESG is performing at a difficult time.

Plus, Paul and Emile discuss one of the latest developments in an anti-ESG push from Republicans — votes by Congress to undo the Department of Labor’s new rule governing the use of ESG in retirement plans.

Guest Bio:

Alyssa Stankiewicz is an associate director for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. She leads environmental, social, and governance research in North America, spearheading efforts on the ESG Commitment Level and publishing reports on the sustainable funds landscape.

Before joining Morningstar in 2019, Stankiewicz completed her Master of Business Administration in sustainable innovation at the University of Vermont, where she and her teammates won the inaugural Total Impact Portfolio Challenge. She also holds bachelor's degrees in Spanish and linguistics from Earlham College.

Paul and Emile go over recent developments in the anti-ESG efforts coming from several states and Congress, including attempts to invalidate the Department of Labor’s new ESG rule for retirement plans.

Special guest Elysabeth Alfano, CEO and founder of VegTech Invest, discusses the environmental and health effects of the animal industry. Alfano, whose firm’s Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF was recently third-party certified as being carbon neutral without the use of credits, talks about investment opportunities and the future of alternative protein sources.

Listen and subscribe to the ESG Clarity podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google.

Guest Bio:

Elysabeth Alfano is the CEO/CMO of VegTech™ Invest and the Founder of Plant Powered Consulting. She is a plant-based private and public investor and is considered one of the foremost thought leaders on the plant-based business sector, speaking internationally on the sector and trends.

Paul and Emile talk about themes to watch in 2023. Special guest Nell Minow, vice chair at ValueEdge Advisors, gives insight on corporate governance and the current state of ESG and the politics affecting it. Minow, who has a second career in film writing, talks about some of the similarities with governance, and she even has a few movie recommendations on the topic of ESG.

Guest Bio:

Nell Minow is Vice Chair of ValueEdge Advisors. She was Co-founder and Director of GMI Ratings from 2010 to 2014, and was Editor and Co-founder of its predecessor firm, The Corporate Library, from 2000 to 2010. Prior to co-founding The Corporate Library, Ms. Minow was a Principal of Lens, a $100 million investment firm that took positions in underperforming companies and used shareholder activism to increase their value. Her other professional experience includes serving as a Principal of Lens Investment Management, as President of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc., and as an attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Justice. Ms. Minow was named one of the 30 most influential investors of 2002 by Smart Money magazine and, in 2003, was dubbed “the queen of good corporate governance” by Business Week online. In 2007 she was named as one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance. In 2008 she was the sole recipient of the International Corporate Governance Network award for exceptional achievement in the field of corporate governance. She has authored over 200 articles and co-authored three books on corporate governance with Robert A.G. Monks, most recently the 5th edition of an MBA textbook titled Corporate Governance, published in 2011. Ms. Minow is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Chicago Law School.

ESG Out Loud US talks with the founder of a new retail trading app, Fennel, which incorporates ESG data. Company CEO Daniel Naim says that proxy voting, sustainability and shareholder engagement will pull more people into the investing world. Naim talks about how he made a major career trajectory change, leaving a physics PhD program to start the broker-dealer Fennel Financials as well as Fennel Markets, which includes the new trading app.

Emile and Paul also discuss the Department of Labor’s final rule for ESG in retirement plans, and they catch up with ESG Clarity’s own Natasha Turner about her coverage of COP27.

Leading up to COP27, Columbia University professor Bruce Usher talks about how the world has gotten to the climate crisis and why progress to address it has stalled. But the energy transition provides many opportunities, and there is reason to be hopeful. Usher talks about teaching about the intersection of climate and finance and the disproportionate impact that wealthier nations have in global warming. Also, InvestmentNews’ Jeff Benjamin talks with Emile about the ESG potential of direct indexing and expanding proxy voting to fund shareholders.

Guest Bio:

Bruce Usher is a Professor of Professional Practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler '86 and Mark T. Gallogly '86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School. The Tamer Center educates leaders to use business knowledge, entrepreneurial skills, and management tools to address social and environmental challenges, and has grown into one of the largest centers at Columbia Business School. Professor Usher teaches on the intersection of finance, social and environmental issues, and is a recipient of the Singhvi Prize for Scholarship in the Classroom, the Lear Award, and the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

US SIF CEO Lisa Woll talks with ESG Out Loud, reflecting on her time at the organization and how sustainable investing has grown from virtually unheard of to a topic that has grown popular and is mocked by politicians and one comic strip. The intensity of the recent opposition to sustainable investing hints that it is successful and is seen as a threat to business as usual. New regulations being pushed by the Biden administration could help propel ESG even further, Woll says.

Also, Paul and Emile discuss the climate implications of crypto and how a recent change instituted by Ethereum could mean a more environmentally friendly future for digital assets.

Listen and subscribe to the ESG Clarity podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google.

Paul and Emile discuss BlackRock and the rest of the firms on Texas’ sustainable investing blacklist, and how ESG investing is yet another political issue polarizing our country.  Then Emile speaks with Roos Wijker of Follow This, a grassroots organization and collective of shareholders. Roos talks about the group's efforts to push Big Oil companies to accelerate the energy transition by setting emission reduction targets aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement.