Annual CFS NYC Conference: ESG Investing, Fall 2019
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors have become important measures of the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment. The idea that investors who integrate ESG risks may improve long-term investment returns is controversial and of interest to many market participants.
Some investors claim that ESG information about companies is helpful in understanding a company’s corporate purpose, strategy, and management qualities. Corporate disclosures on ESG issues are steadily improving, while technology and big data continue to reveal insights and ways to apply ESG data.
ESG investing is now estimated at over $20 trillion AUM, or around a quarter of all professionally managed assets around the world. Sustainable investing has become less a question of philanthropy, but rather a practicality when conducting business in today’s markets — one that has the potential to accelerate market transformation.
Keynote
Henry McVey, Head of Global Macro & Asset Allocation & CIO at KKR
Moderator
John Melvin, Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer at HIMCO
Panelists
- Bridget Bartlett, Vice President at Goldman Sachs
- Ingrid Dyott, Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager at Neuberger Berman
- Laura Kunkemueller, ESG Officer at Mellon
- Noelle-Claire LeCann, Managing Principal at AlphaSource Advisors LLC
- Henry Shilling, Director of Research at Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC
The expert panel discussed ESG investing and shared their insights on ESG's rapid growth, ESG data, analysis, and scoring, sustainable funds' performance over ordinary ones, and the future of ESG.
This year's conference was brought to you by the CFS in cooperation with the CFS Advisory Board, KKR, Lehigh Wall Street Council, and Refinitiv.