“I think what a lot of people don’t understand about ESG is it usually is really focused on looking at those environmental, social and governance factors that are going to have a material financial effect on the company,” says Kim Griffin, member engagement director at Toniic, at the recent Health + Wealth of America conference. “So it’s really still rooted in looking at the financial impacts of the company, which may or may not meet expectations of investors who want to solve the climate crisis and have more flexibility on financial risk and financial return expectations.”
Griffin often finds people think ESG is a broader framework than it actually is. Andrew Lee, managing director and head of sustainable and impact investing at UBS, continued with that thought, explaining that he thinks the terminology trips people up, but he wants investors to be more concerned with determining what their goals are with their investments and making sure their portfolio is set up to align with those intentions.
