With the right approach, advisors are well-positioned to identify the funds that will best suit their values-focused clients – even without standardized guidelines for what makes a sustainable fund sustainable.

Constructing sustainable and risk-adjusted portfolios in a global context

Sustainable investing has come a long way. In its early days, investment managers, like Saturna Capital, created faith-based investment processes, focused on excluding companies or industries that conflicted with the tenets of an investor’s faith. This led to proactive investing, often referred to as advocacy investing, a process that encourages companies, sectors, and regions to engage in better business practices.

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs), officially known as “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” consist of 17 goals and 169 targets that were created to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, and protect the planet.

The emergence of green bonds presents an attractive sustainable vehicle for fixed income investors, though not without drawbacks. The potential value of green bonds is obvious from the name; the securities prioritize the importance of environmental concerns as a means of either reducing risk or forming a competitive advantage when using the proceeds from the sale of the note.

At one point or another, we have all heard the saying "out with old, in with the new." We do not need to look too far in this modern technological age to find cogent examples, including...

In the context of investing, the term 'sustainability' lacks sharply defined boundaries. This broad label tends to create more confusion than clarity, prompting some advisors to simply skip it and move on.