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Today’s successful businesses know that the consumers and investors they reach out to are looking for more than just a token nod to corporate social responsibility on company websites. These savvier consumers are also less likely to accept official spin if a company’s green credentials don’t have real built-in care for the world we share. The good news is that brands are now more responsive to these concerns. And when creating an investment portfolio to deliver optimal returns for their investors, investment companies are striving to handpick companies for whom impacts on our planet and the people in it matter in their evaluation of the most promising investment opportunities.
Investing with an eye on sustainability as well as returns
Impact investing according to ESG/SDG goals has entered the world stage. In plain English, this is all about asset management when sustainability factors matter.
While looking to reduce risk and generate returns for clients, this approach to investment works to carefully analyze all material factors in investment analysis and decisions, including environmental, social and governance aspects.
Open Metrics Solutions, a provider of investment analytics technology linked to Swiss universities, defines ESG as “Using Environmental, Social and Governance factors to evaluate companies and countries on how far advanced they are with sustainability.”
Environmental factors can include a company’s impact on climate change through waste management and energy efficiency. Human rights and adherence to workplace health and safety are some of the social factors, while governance refers to a set of principles defining rights, responsibilities and expectations between different stakeholders in the governance of corporations.
Sustainable Development Goals (STGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and bring peace and prosperity to all by 2030. These 17 goals include key principles like gender equality, clean water and sanitation, climate action and sustainable cities and communities.
In practical terms, this approach also gets that an understanding of a company’s corporate sustainability will give investors insights into a company’s quality of management and performance potential in the future. So this offers optimized long-term value to shareholders.
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Case study: Ariston Investments
One business embodying the everyday application of impact investments according to ESG STG goals is Arison Investments.
With a motto of “Doing good is good business,” this company explains that it is driving environmental and business investments that create social impact. It offers investors a diversified portfolio “yielding competitive returns, while positively impacting people’s lives worldwide.”
Shari Arison, businesswoman, philanthropist and owner of the Arison Group, outlines how Arison Investments aligns its business strategy with broader social and environmental goals, promoting and integrating values: “Our investment philosophy connects our financial goals with universal values at the core of all investment decisions, in the fabric of our everyday life, impacting people, the planet, and society at large," Arison explains.
This month, the company launched a new website, shares Chairman and CEO of Arison Investments, Efrat Peled. "Our corporate culture is very much influenced by the vision of bringing added value to humanity,“ adds Peled.
Arison Group teams are uniquely helping select businesses to positively change the DNA within their companies to incorporate a value-led business and a workplace culture where staff can bond over meaningful shared values. It features an innovative “DGM Inside” measurement tool that quantifiably and objectively calculates the degree to which a corporation succeeds in doing good, both inside and outside its value chain.
As the Arison Investments website explains: “Our global teams create opportunities that bring about positive impact, aligned with the Arison family’s long-established vision of Doing Good, various ESG factors, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We empower our partners to become transformative agents of change, bridging financial performance with positive impact.”
