Zandbergen-Albers identifies the greatest opportunities for ESG in the holistic relationship between all three strands: environmental, social and governance.
She acknowledges that climate change is massive in the public eye, but feels, like Dunbar, that other factors and considerations have to be borne in mind as well.
Zandbergen-Albers says: “Climate change is, rightfully so, a big focus. Also, biodiversity as a topic is being researched more and more.
“These issues are pressing and for investors, not only indicate clear financial risks, but also clear investment opportunities, which make them interesting from an investment perspective.
“At Robeco we have always looked at sustainability holistically, so governance and social issues are also relevant. We are currently in a process to improve our human rights framework, for example.”
She said the company focuses on all Sustainable Development Goals and not only on the environmental ones, adding: “In our environmental engagement work on palm oil for example, labour standards are also very important and in our climate change approach we also ask companies to put in place policies on just transition.”
Clients’ choice
When it comes to the advice industry, it is the customer’s awareness and preferences that need to hold the most sway.
Ashley Hamilton Claxton, head of sustainability at Royal London Asset Management, says that opportunities for ESG depend largely on what the end customer’s objective is.
She says: “Some customers simply want to avoid investing in certain industries, and therefore an exclusion approach is perfectly acceptable.
“Others want ESG risks taken into account and therefore a standard risk-based approach is suitable. Alternatively, some people may want to create change through their investments – again, this would lend itself to a different type of investment product.
“We should be talking about what the end customer wants and checking that the products are suitable to their investment style and preferences.”
Across finance, from investments to advice to pensions savings, there are younger customers in their 20s and 30s.
Young clients and interconnectivity
Dunbar sees young people as a conduit through which ESG can flourish and grow.
Just like Hamilton Claxton and Eugene Krishnan, chief financing officer of US digital health organisation Jaan Health, Stuart Dunbar, partner at Baillie Gifford, also sees the need for an element of interconnectivity: not only between E and S and G and between stakeholders, but between generations.
Young people have a passion for ESG, and to some degree are more at the mercy of the long-term impact of climate change and the consequences of societal inequalities than older generations.
For this reason, many are more likely to be seeking information about ESG investing of their own volition.
