In recent years, we have seen an increase in ESG Scores being used to determine whether or not individuals get involved with a specific investment.

ESG Scores are used to determine the efforts made by companies in the areas of environment, social and governance.

In this episode, Mike Dukovich sits down with Kent McClanahan, vice president of responsible investing with RBC Wealth Management, as they discuss the topic of ESG in relation to investing. Kent shares information that points to ESG becoming something more people are looking toward when creating investment portfolios.

Kent discusses:

What ESG Scores are and how they are determined
Where you can find information regarding a company’s ESG
How companies are changing due to the popularity of ESG
Examples of environmental, social and governance factors fitting into ESG
And more

Connect With Kent McClanahan:

Connect With Mike Dukovich:

Resources:

The studies discussed in this podcast were:

Intangible Asset Market Value study done by Ocean Tomo in 2020 (https://www.oceantomo.com/intangible-asset-market-value-study),
MSCI study on cost of capital from 2018 (https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/esg-and-the-cost-of-capital/01726513589),
Sustainable Reality report done by Morgan Stanley in 2019, covering the years between 2004-2018. (https://www.morganstanley.com/content/dam/msdotcom/ideas/sustainable-investing-offers-financial-performance-lowered-risk/Sustainable_Reality_Analyzing_Risk_and_Returns_of_Sustainable_Funds.pdf

About Our Guest:

Kent McClanahan is tasked with leading responsible investing efforts, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) and impact investing, in coordination with colleagues across the organization. His responsibilities in this role are advisor and client education, thought leadership and due diligence across a number of investment types and vehicles.