面对气候变化的持续灾难，经验丰富的投资者和新手市场的投资者越来越多地拥有更可持续的股票。他们偏爱采取行动来解决气候危机以及其他环境和社会问题的公司，例如资源保护，生物多样性和人权，而不是继续为化石燃料活动提供资金。
在过去的几年中，所谓的ESG投资（环境，社会和治理）呈指数增长，而2021年也不例外。大流行和气候友好的联邦投资有助于提高势头，展示了可持续资金对投资者的财务吸引力，即使是那些专注于财务回报的人，而不是影响力。尽管ESG增长可能会继续下去，但加速度可能取决于政府通过监管和立法行动吸引投资者进入ESG的能力。
两种类型的投资者，一个方向
2021 was a record year for ESG, with anestimated $120 billion涌入可持续投资，是2020年510亿美元的两倍以上。截至今年，估计所有资产中有三分之一均包含可持续投资。尽管如此，多年来已经有了巨大的增长：ESG投资的金额增加十倍from 2018 to 2020, and 25-fold from 1995 to 2020.
尽管令人印象深刻，但2021年不一定是杰出的一年。托德·科特（Todd Cort）, codirector of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance, who assesses that there were no special benchmarks reached, but a continuation of the positive trend. That said, ESG funds became less of a fringe category, and sustainable stocks seeped into traditional funds. “It’s hard now to find any kind of fund that doesn’t consider climate risks in some way, shape, or form,” he says. “Maybe it came of age [in 2021] because the labeled ESG fund has ceded its information to mainstream markets.”
Part of the lure has been the resilience of ESG funds during the pandemic. They didn’t suffer as much as traditional funds in the initial economic downturn, signaling their stability in times of crisis. “ESG factors tend to have more outsize benefit on the downside risk than on the upside,” Cort says. He adds that the pandemic was also a crucial lesson as we face the climate crisis, long thought to be an incoming “chronic, economy-wide risk.” The pandemic showed that we’re not ready for that kind of colossal drag on the economy, which may get people to turn to funds that are climate friendly.
因此，即使不是主要由道德上驱动的人，也仍然会继续可持续投资。科特说，这很重要，因为到目前为止，ESG投资者最大的部分受到财务绩效而不是道德倾向的刺激。ESG资金表明它们的波动性较低，股本回报率良好。带有ESG的投资组合perform betterthan those without: 77% of those from 10 years ago have survived versus 46% of others.
ESG投资者的第二组是那些被认为是真正影响投资者的投资者，可以平衡其经济利益与产生真正的影响。当然，年轻人的市场参与以及对跨几代人的负责投资的需求有所增长。但是，这组投资者比我们想象的要小 - 也许很低所有投资者中有2％。“是的，它正在增长，”科特说。“它是管理资产的百分比增长吗？非常非常小。”实际上，千禧一代和Z世代可能还没有资金来投资其价值。到目前为止，他们的行为更多cultural catalyststo urge large banks and institutional investors to engage. But, as young people gain wealth, including via intergenerational wealth shifts, growth could increase further.
The government’s role: Raise the iceberg
The government can also play a big role in ESG’s continued momentum, through both direct regulation and environmentally friendly legislation. Cort offers an iceberg analogy: A small slice of sustainable assets, with meaningful impact potential, sit “above the water,” meaning that they are currently financially attractive, and investors will drive these assets forward “no matter what.” But there are yet more lucrative ESG prospects submerged underwater, not yet visible or tempting to the mainstream. With its actions, the government can lift more of these from the depths of the investing pool to the surface, increasing the attractive fodder for investors. “That’s where government can really mess things up, or really do a great job,” he says.
今年冰山已经有一些适度的运动。众议院民主党人提出了一项法案，该法案将要求投资顾问解释他们如何在决策中考虑ESG因素。同时，最近通过的基础设施法案包含许多专门用于清洁能源，环境正义和减少社会经济不平等的美元。科特说，这种公共支出还充当私人投资同一部门的动机。换句话说，一个自由市场的经济学家会争辩说，它会使市场扭曲这些投资。
但是，在美国有更多政府行动的空间。2021年4月，EU passed its landmarkCorporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, requiring much stricter sustainability reporting, which could get 49,000 European companies, including large private firms, disclosing sustainability information by 2023. Comparatively, the U.S. still takes a rather laissez-faire approach, in effect leaving regulation to the institutional investors themselves. While BlackRock committed to increasing ESG assets from $90 billion to $1 trillion by the end of 2029, a lot of its so-called sustainable funds still invest in碳密集型公司。
A change of administration to a more climate-unfriendly government could affect ESG momentum, but is unlikely to do much more than “create speed bumps at the worst,” Cort says, by loosening public-disclosure regulations, which would make it harder to access corporate information. While that may hinder the pace, it couldn’t stop the aggressive trend toward ESG, due to its now-proven lucrativeness.
这种趋势很明显：美国成年人的72％express interest in ESG; some analysts forecast ESGexceeding $50 trillionin the next two decades. And, Cort predicts that in the next five years, 100% of assets under management will incorporate some ESG factors. “Because there’s just no way not to,” he says. “Climate change is going to impact everything.”