Sustainable Investing in Europe
A Guide for Beginners
Once upon a time, profit and purpose were diametrically opposed. These were mutually exclusive terms which did not belong in the same sentence, let alone paragraph. Thankfully, the world has moved on a lot since then, and today sustainable and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing are mainstream. Today, it is possible to invest intentionally in line with your values and achieve both financial and non-financial outcomes.
The good news for a beginner investor is that there is a regulatory framework with a plethora of rules designed to confirm the ESG criteria of investment portfolios in order to protect investors from greenwashing and dubious claims.
The not-so-good news is that regulatory guidelines are sometimes vague, and so it falls upon the asset managers to provide a clear framework of how their products fit sustainable investing classifi…