Introduction to ESG, Responsible Investing and Sustainability
- Why they are important and what they all mean
- Is increasing demand from institutional and retail investors here to stay?
- What is E, S and G?
- The benefits, costs & risks of ESG investing
ESG Factors and Themes
- Environmental: Energy consumption, emissions, water use etc.
- Social: Equality and diversity, data security, employee welfare
- Governance: Voting rights, stakeholder engagement, board accountability
- Which matters most and why
- Industry and sector differences
ESG and Share Price Performance
+ Do companies with higher ESG scores outperform?
+ Which pillars and factors matter most
+ Equity sector characteristics
+ Differences between the UK and elsewhere
+ Companies investors avoid: Case studies
ESG Materiality
- What it means and why it is important
- Evidence on the financial significance of materiality
- How to perform a materiality analysis
- Applying weights to materiality measures
ESG Ratings and Metrics
- The problems with ESG scoring
- Data quality, ratings biases, lack of standardisation, reporting fatigue, greenwashing
- Applying AI and data science to ESG analysis
- The importance of ESG momentum
Investing using ESG Scores and Ratings
- Introduction to ESG strategies
- ESG integration
- Screening: Negative, positive, best in class, impact
- ESG indexing: Active versus passive
- Relative returns and performance
- ESG derivatives
ESG and Fixed Income
- How ESG and fixed income differs from share price affects
- Do ESG ratings affect the interest rate companies pay?
- ESG scores and credit ratings
- Green bonds
Standards and Regulation
- Regulation affecting ESG factors
- Standards: National and international
- What investors think important
- Latest developments and what to expect in the future