The board of the Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies trust (SST) has highlighted ESG as an "emerging risk" to the company, with the portfolio managers adding they are "not prepared to invest in box-ticking ESG exercises".
In the annual financial report for the year ended 31 August 2024, the board of SST bemoaned the swathes of regulations related to ESG and said the effects of climate change are almost impossible to predict. "The increasing volume, short implementation deadlines and lack of commonality of new ESG regulations issued by multiple regulators, accompanied by increased regulatory focus and labelling and marketing of investment products as having ESG characteristics increase the perceived risk of greenwashing," the board said. "[SST's] investment process is focused on ESG issues and puts a gr...
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