Harbour ponders drivers of ESG pull back

Finding the balance between disclosure and modesty is key to avoiding getting caught up in the ESG backlash and maintaining clients’ trust, according to Harbour Asset Management’s responsible investment team.

With global companies and investment managers publicly walking away from their emissions targets and climate action group memberships, the local manager says it is still seeing strong inflows into its own responsible investment-specific fund, although evidence on returns for labelled funds remains mixed. 

“We know we've got work to do to ensure that the ESG principles we're layering into this value, the risk that we’re taking continues to deliver for clients,” says Harbour Co-CEO and CIO Andrew Bascand, presenting at the firm’s responsible investment forum in Wellington.

Lack of trust is one of the drivers of the ESG pull back, says Bascand, and colleague Jorge Waayman, ESG research manager, says transparency, providing examples of case studies, obtaining external certification and having good controls in place are answers to some of the greenwashing worries investment managers are dealing with.