We need to look at ESG investing differently

There is not 'one true faith'

If a consensus has emerged about ESG investing over the past year, it is that the approach is in dire need of change.

Nearly every week brings a new opinion piece setting out where the asset management industry is going wrong and how to fix it. ESG needs to be split into two distinct categories: ‘ESG as input' and ‘ESG as output'. ‘Output' should prevail over ‘input', or vice versa. Decarbonisation should dominate other sustainability objectives. The E, S and G should be separated. There is too much focus on divestment, or not enough. More standardisation is needed. The list goes on. Indeed, the ESG landscape is beginning to resemble medieval Christianity's search for the ‘one true faith'. But like a...