Sustainable investing is a rapidly growing and evolving field. With investors expressing ever greater interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics and reporting, companies face a sustainability imperative and the need to remake their business models to respond to an array of pressing issues including climate change, air and water pollution, racial justice, workplace diversity, economic inequality, privacy, corporate integrity, and good governance. From equities to fixed income and from private equity to impact-investing, investors of all kinds now want to understand which companies will be marketplace leaders in a business future redefined by sustainability. Thus, investment strategies, risk models, financial vehicles, applications, data, metrics, standards, and regulations are all changing rapidly around the world.
In an effort to better understand the current status and movement of this dynamic field and to provide a practical reference for the growing pool of investors, financial advisors, companies, and academics seeking information on sustainable investing and ESG reporting, this edited book covers the latest trends, tools, and thinking. It showcases the work of authors from leading companies and academic institutions across a range of vital topics such as financial disclosure, portfolio assessment, ESG metrics construction, and law as well as regulation. Readers of the book will be better able to identify and address the hurdles to moving mainstream capital toward more sustainable companies, investments, and projects.
Author Biography:
Daniel C. Esty is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University with primary appointments in the School of the Environment and the Law School and a secondary appointment at the Yale School of Management. He serves as Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and co-directs the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. Dan is the author or editor of twelve books and dozens of articles on environmental and energy policy, corporate sustainability strategy, and sustainability metrics. His recent (edited) volume, A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, was named a top book of 2019 by The Financial Times. He served as head of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from 2011-14 and in several leadership roles at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1989-93.
Todd Cort is a faculty member at the Yale School of Management and Yale School of the Environment.He serves as Faculty Co-Director for the Yale Center for Business and Environment as well as Co-Director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. Prior to re-joining academia in 2014, Todd served as Director of Sustainability Advisory Services for TUV Rhineland, DNV GL, and Two Tomorrows. In this capacity, he has worked extensively with companies around their ESG disclosures and investor relations. Todd is also the founder of NPV Associates.
