A Realist’s Guide to Investing for Good

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/a_realists_guide_to_investing_for_good

“How would you suggest that I invest my savings of ten thousand dollars to have a positive social and environmental impact?”

The question came from a PhD student this time, but we get it a lot. Many people want their money to work for them—to preserve their financial security and to improve the world. In fact, almost 85 percent of individual investors say they are interested in sustainable investing and more than three quarters believe they can use their investments to influence the extent of climate change. In response, asset managers have created and rebranded trillions of dollars of funds as ESG (environment, social, and governance) funds targeting socially minded investors. So, it should be easy to recommend many worthy qualifying investments. Right?