By Joshua Levin You may have voted against U.S. President Donald Trump, protested his policies, and ranted to your friends. Yet most of us are financing him and his agenda. With any typical investment account, 401(k) or pension, Americans indirectly fund their opposition parties and directly finance polarizing activities such as weapons production, private prisons, and […]
How to Move Sustainable Investing Into the Spotlight
I am new to the world of sustainable investments. For the last 25 years, before joining the Climate Trust, my career was centered almost exclusively on timberland investing. The corollaries between sustainable and timberland investing may not be apparent at first, but U.S. timberland investing is based almost entirely on sustainable forestry. In fact, most […]
Turning Ethical Investing into a Wall Street Disruptor
OpenInvest, a new investing platform that beta-launched at SOCAP16, aims to transform investing by putting the power of ethical investing into each investor’s hand. Sustainable investing is no buzzword – it has been over a decade since the first sustainability-focused investment firms and options emerged. Even as evidence as grown that sustainable investing is actually […]
Sustainability Ratings: Coming to an Investment Near You
By Ben Gruitt Last month Morningstar Inc., an investment research and management firm, announced a new sustainability rating system would be available for funds on its North American and European websites as well as in Morningstar Advisor Workstation, the company’s Web-based practice management platform for advisors. The Morningstar Sustainability Rating aids investors in evaluating funds based […]
Will Bad Companies Fail? Want To Bet?
Peabody Energy declared bankruptcy last week. Some were surprised; others not so much. One such investor is Dale Wannen, founder of socially-responsible hedge fund Sustainvest Asset Management, who has been shorting Peabody stock for months. Activists cheered when Peabody Energy, the world’s largest coal company, declared bankruptcy last week. These activists have been lobbying endowments […]