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f4therfucker t1_iu0ckq2 wrote

Reply to comment by TeaTrees in BlackRock HQ in NYC stormed with pitchforks. by helloworld_141

Chevron is the 8th largest holding in Blackrock’s core ESG fund, so even if only a small number of firms that claim ESG credentials are fraud, the investment products themselves are also bullshit.

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TeaTrees t1_iu0g1xj wrote

I was just pointing out the way you used it in the sentence was misleading. My point is that esg is a idea, not a thing, it’s like ethics. You wouldn’t say ethics itself is under fire, you would say many firms are under fire for ethics-washing.

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ImaginaryFreedom7 t1_iu10ypm wrote

Grab someone off the street and ask them what they think ESG is and they will more than likely describe impact investing and allocating dollars to sustainable investments. That’s not what ESG integration is. It’s using ESG related information/data to help inform investment decisions and how the data might affect risk and return. A Sustainable Fund’s objective may be to have better ESG characteristics than its benchmark. Just because chevron or other energy in general is a holding doesn’t make that untrue. A large part of ESG scoring is the direction a company is moving.

Naturally if a fund or etf is greenwashing or declaring untrue statements about how they invest there are issues. Blackrock has a team of lawyers regarding their disclosures in their ESG products but a lot of the issues boils down to 1) not a common framework for disclosures and 2) different esg definition among different stakeholders.

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Lovat69 t1_iu156dd wrote

>Grab someone off the street and ask them what they think ESG is and they will more than likely describe impact investing and allocating dollars to sustainable investments.

Grab someone off the street and most of them won't have any clue what you're talking about. Let's be realistic.

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