TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping sustainable investing: Exploring ambiguities and consistencies among sustainable indices
AU - Bolognesi, Enrica
AU - Dreassi, Alberto
AU - Migliavacca, Milena
AU - Paltrinieri, Andrea
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Sustainable investing is perceived as a confusing black-box by many researchers, practitioners, and investors. Terminology, metrics, approaches, disclosure standards are quickly evolving, while the empirical evidence provides a growing number of mixed results. In this paper, we examine the composition, performance, and the risk-return profile of reference sustainable indices for the asset management industry, distinguishing between ethical and socially-responsible, faith-based, ESG and climate ones. Our findings reveal consistent investment trends across various sustainable indices, impacting their overall performance. Specifically, our analysis highlights a prevalent inclination towards large and growth-oriented companies, as well as a persistent focus on technology, financials, and commodity sectors. These results provide valuable insights for investors, asset managers, and index providers regarding the potential misalignment between an investment vehicle's labeling and its actual composition, and the implications this discrepancy might have on investors' expectations.
AB - Sustainable investing is perceived as a confusing black-box by many researchers, practitioners, and investors. Terminology, metrics, approaches, disclosure standards are quickly evolving, while the empirical evidence provides a growing number of mixed results. In this paper, we examine the composition, performance, and the risk-return profile of reference sustainable indices for the asset management industry, distinguishing between ethical and socially-responsible, faith-based, ESG and climate ones. Our findings reveal consistent investment trends across various sustainable indices, impacting their overall performance. Specifically, our analysis highlights a prevalent inclination towards large and growth-oriented companies, as well as a persistent focus on technology, financials, and commodity sectors. These results provide valuable insights for investors, asset managers, and index providers regarding the potential misalignment between an investment vehicle's labeling and its actual composition, and the implications this discrepancy might have on investors' expectations.
KW - Sustainable investing
KW - Indexing
KW - Ethical investing
KW - Climate investing
KW - ESG
KW - Faith-based investing
KW - SRI
KW - Sustainable investing
KW - Indexing
KW - Ethical investing
KW - Climate investing
KW - ESG
KW - Faith-based investing
KW - SRI
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/295136
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122081
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122081
M3 - Article
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 367
SP - N/A-N/A
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
ER -