ESG and sustainability: Looking beneath the hood

When environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds were in their infancy, a common misconception was that investing responsibly involved some trade-off in terms of performance.

Today there are a plethora of studies available that dispel this myth. In fact, of 200 academic studies on the link between ESG and returns, 88% indicate that companies with strong sustainability practices demonstrate better operational performance, ultimately translating into cash flows. In addition, 80% showed that strong sustainability practices have a positive influence on investment performance.¹

However, while it is clear that investment managers who take ESG considerations into account have the potential to outperform, with the vast array of ESG funds now available, it is important to look beneath the hood before investing. Any chosen fund should closely align with an investor’s values, while also supporting their investment goals and desired outcomes.

The active versus passive debate

In selecting a sustainable investment, a first step many investors and their advisers take is to determine whether an active or passive approach is most appropriate.

While interest in passive sustainable investments continues to grow, we believe active management is a demonstrably better approach for investors seeking ESG integration in their investment portfolios.

An active strategy can afford investors a greater degree of control over their investments and allow them to align their views to those of the investment manager, rather than outsourcing everything to an index provider.

While an ESG benchmark may achieve the desired sustainable outcome, it may not be designed to explicitly avoid the uncompensated sources of risk that an active investment manager would seek to avoid.

As an active manager, we use proprietary data to gain a deeper understanding of companies in the investment universe and explicitly target both financial and non-financial outcomes, while constantly overseeing the portfolio’s active risk exposures and taking steps to address these where appropriate.

Identifying sustainable investments: Blending ESG and specific factors

The next step for investors is often to analyse the available product set to find the right alignment with their own individual values and goals.

While some investors have an ethics-based approach to ESG investing, avoiding gambling stocks for example, others approach ESG as a way to evaluate long-term risks and opportunities and invest in companies that contribute positively to issues such as climate change and social justice.

We find that quality and ESG can often be viewed as different dimensions of the same theme – sustainability. High quality companies not only may deliver superior earnings today but also have the potential to deliver sustainable earnings growth into the future.

Quality analysis

When analysing the quality of a company, we look closely at the way it is managed – how it uses its assets and grows its earnings – but also consider how it is managed as well, including whether it has a diverse board.

Numerous studies have shown that diversity is important to the success of teams, as it fosters alternative viewpoints and challenges ‘group think’. Our research shows that diversity in management boards is linked to better current financial results and also may be an indicator of the ability of a company to protect its future profitability² .

The second factor AXA IM looks at is volatility, which it could be argued also has a link to a company’s ESG credentials. Young, fast-growing companies, for example, may be more volatile. As they mature, however, businesses may become more stable and are often also able to do more for their employees and society.

There have been many instances of larger businesses using their size and presence to directly influence change. A notable one in recent times was Unilever’s announcement of an initiative to ensure workers across its entire supply chain earn at least a living wage by 2030³ . The group will also spend $2.4bn globally with suppliers consisting of under-represented groups by 2025.

In seeking out companies that have advantages over their competitors, we believe it is essential to include this type of non-financial consideration in our investment decisions.

With a raft of ESG funds on the market, it is important for investors to do their research and look beneath the hood of responsible investing strategies, to find the ones that suit their aims and objectives best.