Pension TREND. ESG investment laws, rules and regs. The financial impact.

Social Divestment & ESG investing, a strategy based on an asset’s environmental, social and governance factors, by the numbers:

• $23 trillion globally in ESG investments
• 600% growth in the last 10 years
• 7  U.S. pension funds that signatories to the U.N.-supported Principles for Responsible Investment
  • What are the Principles for Responsible Investment? Calls for “certain factors such as climate change and human rights can affect a company’s performance and should therefore be considered alongside more traditional financial factors”
• fees in the ESG funds are roughly 100 basis points higher than their counterparts
• State Examples
  • ​MA lost $79 million on its $1.6 billion fossil fuel holdings from 2012-2017
  • MA would have gained $1 billion in ananti-fossil fuel index fund
  • CA created a division to “monitor ESG investing across its entire portfolio”
  • The purpose is to assess the fund’s future exposure to environmental, social or governance dangers

Governing | Politicizing the Portfolio.