A huge shift towards sustainable investments
There has been a growing public awareness of the collective impact that our individual actions can have on others. Broadcasters such as David Attenborough and campaigners like Greta Thunberg have brought environmental problems to the fore, while the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted health and social issues.
International treaties aiming to manage environmental damage have been part of the backdrop since the 1980s, with the Paris Climate Agreement currently the most prominent. More recently, governments are seeing opportunities to align fiscal stimulus with an environmental agenda, which will result in opportunities for investors, while regulators are driving change through the introduction of sustainability-related considerations explicitly within investment terminology and when working with clients. Finally, strong relative performance has pushed sustainability-orientated funds on to the radar of the general investor as well as those with a focus on ESG issues.
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