Earth Day comes around once a year, but investors can put their money to work to combat climate change year-round.
As more individuals come to terms with the existential threat of climate change, sustainable investing is no longer niche. It's gone mainstream, and it's a growing force in the capital markets.
An often cited 2019 survey from Morgan Stanley found that 85 percent of investors with at least $100,000 in investable assets were interested in sustainable investing.
Some 48 percent of investors with $10,000 or more invested said they were "very or somewhat" interested in sustainable investment funds, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. But only 25 percent said they'd heard "a lot or fair amount" about it, and only 10 percent said they were currently invested in sustainable funds.
Not only is familiarity with sustainable investing low, concepts like ESG can be confusing. ESG refers to "environmental, social, and governance." It's a set of standards used to evaluate companies through a social lens, but a study from Stanford University found ESG ratings can be unreliable because there isn't a standardized criteria for evaluation, information gathering is expensive, and data can be incomplete or unreliable.
Peter Krull, a partner and director of sustainable investing at Prime Capital Investment Advisors company Earth Equity Advisors, echoed those concerns.
"An ESG portfolio that reduces its exposure to ExxonMobil is less bad. One that eliminates it entirely is better. But one that replaces it with First Solar is actually sustainable," Krull told Cheddar News.
Krull recommended sustainable investors eliminate fossil fuel companies or funds that contain them from their portfolios altogether, but other sectors aren't so cut and dried. Mining operations, for example, can mine fossil fuels, but they can also mine minerals for electric vehicle batteries. As for what goes into a green portfolio, Krull recommended alternative energy companies that focus on solar, wind, and geothermal power, as well as less obvious choices like insurance companies that consider climate risk and biotech that improves health outcomes.
"I like to call traditional index investing rearview mirror investing because it's really about investing in where we've been or where the economy has been. Whereas sustainable investing is where the economy is going," Krull said.
Being a smart and sustainable investor can require a great deal of critical thinking and research, and Krull recommended tools like Fossil Free Funds and Invest Your Values to help sort through the noise.
Ultimately, investing is about generating a return. When it comes to sustainable investing, Krull also suggested that investors think long term.
"Because sustainable investing is about investing for the future, [investments are] not always going to be up, especially when value investing is in style," he said. "Over the long term, it should play out. But in short terms, just like we're dealing with right now over the last 12 to 18 months, that value has been in style, you probably will underperform a little bit."
Square is changing its name to Block. It comes as the company expands beyond its original credit card reader business and into blockchain and crypto technology.
The name change will go into effect on December 10th, and the company says the name change, "creates room for further growth." Jim Anderson, CEO, SocialFlow joined Cheddar Movers to discuss.
Stock markets around the world continue to be impacted by fears of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. President Biden today reiterated his stance that the new strain is cause for concern, but not cause for panic. Wells Fargo Investment Institute Global Equity Strategist Scott Wren joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Not only has the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency become the 13th most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap with a worth of over $23 billion, but it has made one duo, known as the Shiba Brothers, millionaires. The brothers, Tommy and James, and Oskar Kowalski, Founder of The Global Incubator, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where they discuss their collaboration on Legends of Bezogia.
Fintech startup UNest is providing financial planning tools for parents saving on behalf of their children and has raised $26 million to accelerate its mission. Ksenia Yudina, Founder and CEO at UNest, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she discusses how her company is closing the wealth gap and leveling the playing field for the next generation.
Stocks closed sharply higher Thursday after several days of investor skittishness over the COVID-19 Omicron variant. This rebound comes despite several cases of the variant being reported in the United States. Gene Goldman, Chief Investment Officer at Cetera, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, the Fed's recent announcement about speeding up their taper timeline, and more.
Austin Winsberg, creator of the NBC series "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to dish out some details about the holiday movie special "Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas" now on Roku. Despite initial plans for producing a new Season 3 despite being canceled by the network, Winsberg said that it is not necessary to have seen the first two seasons in order to enjoy the movie. He noted that following cancellation fans rallied behind the show, campaigning for it to come back, which led to a movie being greenlit by Lionsgate to be completed within just a four-month window, according to Winsberg.
As the Leonardo DiCaprio-backed, pure-play electric vehicle company Polestar plans to close a SPAC IPO with Gores Guggenheim, CEO Thomas Ingenlath talked to Cheddar about how the company positioned itself to be able to go public. With competition tightening in the electric vehicle sector, Ingenlath noted what differentiates his cars from the competitors. "Scandinavian cool design and of course the road to zero emissions is something that we take very, very seriously," he said.
Bitcoin is slowly coming back to life after plunging recently, but everyone's favorite cryptocurrency needs to chart a 77% rally in the next four weeks to reach the widely forecast year-end value of $100,000. Bitcoin was trading more than 0.8% percent lower on Thursday morning, Ethereum was also declining. David Nage, portfolio manager at Arca, joins Cheddar News to talk discuss the market.
Jack Dorsey is stepping down as CEO of Twitter. In a statement, he says he is leaving because the company is ready to move on from its founders. Twitter's chief technology office Parag Agrawal will take over as CEO. Ian Sherr, editor at large at CNET, joins Cheddar News to talk about the announcement.
