Thinking about socially responsible investing? Here’s what to know

Open full sized image

Environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and corporate governance aware.

© kessudap, david_franklin/stock.adobe.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Socially responsible investing has been around in various forms for decades. But since the concept became mainstream in the early 2000s, more and more people each year are aligning their personal values with their portfolios. You may have heard the term ESG (environmental, social, and governance), but how and why did it begin, what are the building blocks, and how are companies measured? And is there more to socially responsible investing than just ticking the ESG boxes?

The origins of socially responsible investing can be traced to the 18th- and 19th-century sugar boycotts by abolitionists. The practice regained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, when faith-based groups used religious beliefs and ethical codes to define investment parameters, excluding industries such as alcohol, tobacco, weapons, and gambling. In 2006, the United Nations formally codified ESG.

ESG investing, socially responsible investing, sustainable investing—they’re all similar terms that boil down to using personal values and beliefs to inform investment decisions. There are subtle differences in their goals.

Much like value stock or growth stock investing, what defines ESG investing is open to interpretation, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to create definitions and rules. For now, here’s a breakdown of the differences between ESG investing, socially responsible investing, and sustainable investing:

ESG investing takes a “best-in-class” approach. It compares how a particular company scores on certain environmental, social, and governance pillars versus its industry peers. Third-party scorers such as MSCI and Sustainalytics examine criteria that are financially material to a company’s operations, meaning that a company’s business model may not be compatible with ESG if it scores poorly in some areas. Examples include:

Socially responsible investing, sometimes called SRI, uses exclusionary screens. A fund that practices socially responsible investing won’t own companies in certain industries no matter how good their performance or their ESG scores. Many faith-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) use such screens, which may exclude:

Sustainable investing, sometimes called impact investing, may use ESG scores or exclusionary screens, but it also seeks to invest in companies that make a specific positive societal impact. Sustainable investing may support:

Every investment requires due diligence, but that’s even more important for ESG and sustainable investing.

No company perfectly excels at all three pillars, so it’s important to know what matters to you—whether it’s the E, S, or G. For example, a car company may receive strong marks for its electric-vehicle production, but have a poor score on workplace diversity and safety issues. ESG scores are useful when reviewed over time to see how a company’s score rises or falls. This can help you gauge how seriously it takes certain risks, and how it’s trending.

ESG measures a company’s risk in operations and financial well-being, so a high ESG score in a non-material risk is less important than receiving strong marks on criteria necessary for business. A good place to start your research is the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Materiality Finder, which allows you to look at disclosure topics and their associated accounting metrics for 11 different industries.

Material risk can mean different things in different industries. For a financial company, for example, low carbon emissions might be less material to its operations. Cybersecurity defenses, on the other hand, would be highly material to its operations.

Be diligent, too, about so-called “greenwashing.” When a company spends more on marketing to promote its green initiatives than on actual reforestation or species preservation, that’s greenwashing.

Don’t just pick an ESG, socially responsible, or sustainable investment fund by its name. Dig into the prospectus and fact sheet to see which sustainable companies it holds—or doesn’t. This is easier with ETFs, since most report their holdings daily. Researching the fund may tell you:

ESG and sustainable investing is a way to align your personal values with your investments, but it requires work to ensure your investments actually reflect those beliefs. And remember, these are investments first and foremost. Review a fund’s performance and fees, and make sure the risks match up with your time horizon, objectives, and risk tolerance.