Doing well by doing good? Reassessing the link between sustainability and performance

"Doing well by doing good" was an often-heard refrain at conferences throughout the early 2020s. It was even supported by influential academic studies that claimed sustainability and investment performance were highly correlated. Then came the invasion of Ukraine, giving a boost to dirty and opaque sectors such as energy and defence, and sustainability began to look like a drag on returns. ESG came under fire, with right-wing commentators arguing that it contravened funds' fiduciary duty. Four years on, with new conflicts emerging in the Middle East, the relationship between sustainability and performance is as hotly debated as ever. In this episode, editor Lucy Fitzgeorge-Parker discusses the evolution of thinking on the topic with Jason Mitchell, CIO for responsible investment at Man Group. They discuss the performance implications of exclusionary strategies, the use of quantitative methods to generate trading signals from climate and other non-financial data, innovative ways to leverage AI in sustainable investment, and how ESG might be depoliticised.