ESG Equity Investing

As you probably know, more and more Asset Managers are re-evaluating their Investment Guidelines to consider Environmental, Social and Governance factors. This process raises a series of interesting questions: • How specifically is a company rated on ESG guidelines? Is there subjectivity in the process? • Does consideration of ESG factors improve investment performance? • For investors who emphasize ESG factors for reasons other than investment performance, how do they measure positive societal impact? • How does an Asset Manager use the power of the Proxy vote and Corporate Engagement to affect change in the Environmental, Social and Governance policies of the Companies they own shares of? This course tries to answer the questions just raised as well as address other issues Equity Investors face. Its main topics cover: • Reviewing the building blocks needed to evaluate a company on ESG, specifically, company disclosures and rating methods. • Comparing historical returns, risks and costs of portfolios that incorporate ESG factors versus ones that don’t • Evaluating how Active and Passive Equity managers incorporate ESG factors into their portfolio management process, • Exploring how ESG factors into investment decisions in Alternative Asset Classes like Hedge Funds, Private Equity and Venture Capital • Exploring how Asset Managers use the power of the vote and other forms of engagement to affect change in Corporate Behavior