Evolutions of Sustainable Investing

We are excited to launch our next book with John C. Wiley & Sons in December 2011, Evolutions of Sustainable Investing, featuring profiles of leading investors factoring sustainability in to their investment decisions as a positive driver of value.

Data & metrics are discussed at length, as are regional differences & perspectives from Asia, Australia, Africa, India & Canada

Thought leadership is provided by many prominent individuals including Dan Esty, Paul Hawken and many more.

In a world of diminishing resources, increasing population, climate & environmental change, considering the risks & opportunities has already led to outperformance.

We welcome your thoughts here.

Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long Term Performance

Sustainable funds outperform mainstream indices, having achieved significant financial outperformance from 2002 through 2007.

Watch this space for 2008 & 2009 returns.

New research performed for our book, Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance, shows that sustainability minded outperformed mainstream indices between December 2002 and December 2007. The findings, revealed in our recent book, showed that such funds returned +18.7%, on average, versus returns of +17.0 for the MSCI World, +13.2% for the S&P 500 and +13.0% for the FTSE 100 indices.

Sustainability-minded funds, which integrate environmental factors into management strategies or use best in class or sustainability themed approaches, generated superior returns as part of long-term value creation.

Our findings correlate with similar work being published recently, such as Meir Statman's 2008 Moskowitz Prize winning paper, Dr. Matthew Kiernan's book on a similar subject, and pending papers from State Street and others.

These findings are particularly significant for long- term investors who need to address the carbon risks and opportunities in their portfolios now more than ever, as Governments strive to agree future limits on greenhouse gas emissions at the milestone UN climate change talks in Poland.

Our book attempts to highlight how an approach to investing driven by long-term environmental, economic and social factors could help finance a resurgent and more resilient global economy.

Incorporating long-term environmental, social and economic trends into investment decision-making is the best way to generate risk-adjusted returns in the 21st century. Sustainable investing offers an approach for investors eager to mitigate risk and benefit from upside opportunities, who appreciate the growing financial materiality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Analysis and tools provided by environmental research companies such as Trucost can help investors to create sustainable, long-term value.

Co-editor Nick Robins said: “Whether they are huge pension funds or individual savers, investors are looking for strategies that offer long-term security – and sustainable investing provides the answer. As the world seeks to stimulate an economic recovery, sustainable investing in clean technologies, microfinance and social enterprise offers proven routes to generating wealth and resolving pressing problems such as climate change and global poverty.”

Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Performance is published by Earthscan. To order a copy, please visit http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=4833

Comments welcome.