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."
Cannabis tech company Dutchie raised $350 million in Series D Funding in October, and Ross Lipson, CEO and co-founder, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about how the funds will be used to grow the business. He noted that attracting the best talent, research and development, and expanding the brand's international reach are among the top priorities with this latest round of funding. Lipson also provided a breakdown of how his company "powers a dispensaries operations" through point of sales and e-commerce transactions.
Cloud data management company Informatica made its market debut on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol INFA. Shares ending the day even after opening at $27.55. with shares priced at $29 apiece.
This is the second time the company has gone public after being founded back in 1993. Informatica then went private in a $5 billion deal in 2015. Now, the company is reentering public markets as a subscription business with a push to the cloud. Cheddar News welcomes CEO of Informatica, Amit Walia, to discuss.
If you plan on hosting family and friends this holiday season, you may want to start stocking up on gifts right now. That's because major retailers don't anticipate the national supply chain crisis to end anytime soon. President Biden even says he's considering deploying the National Guard to ease the supply chain crisis. Melissa Gonzalez, CEO and founder of The Lionesque Group, joins Cheddar News to breakdown what consumers should expect.
It's no doubt that the pandemic has been tough on the job market. According to the Labor Department, a record four million people quit their jobs in April. Now, a new survey from Oracle is touching on mental health and how employees are demanding more from their work lives. Juergen Lindner, SVP of global software for SaaS at Oracle, joins Cheddar Wellness to talk about the findings.
The new 2023 C8 Corvette Z06 is finally here. GM's Chevrolet is holding a livestream feature film to debut the car. A panel discussion will also take place to break down everything you need to know about the vehicle. Tadge Juechter, Corvette's executive chief engineer, joins Cheddar News to talk about the new model.
Anushka Salinas, president and COO of Rent the Runway, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about bringing the fashion rental company to the public market after debuting on Nasdaq. Salinas also talks about the future outlook for the company after the pandemic shifted the everyday lives of working women. "As of the end of September, we're at 97 percent of our ending 2019 subscriber count, which, I think, highlights that despite the pandemic, despite delta variant still kind of lingering around, limited marketing of our business, and women not fully being back in the office, we've already brought Rent the Runway back to pre-pandemic levels," she said.
The Roots' Questlove joined Cheddar's 'Between Bells' to talk about partnering with The Balvenie Scotch whisky on a new web series called 'Quest for Craft,' where he interviews big-name guests about their creative processes. He noted that he hopes the series can act as a guide for recent college grads who might be confused about their personal path to take toward success.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson joined Cheddar to talk about the automaker's Q3 earnings beat. Despite COVID concerns at some of its plants overseas as well as the ongoing global chip shortage, Jacobson said he expects the average sale price of GM's vehicles — around $50,000 — to remain the same going into 2022, even as inventory remains low. He also talked about plans to open more battery plants in coordination with the efforts to transform GM's fleet fully into electric vehicles.
Kevin Cohee, chairman and CEO of OneUnited Bank, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about the launch of its Greenwood debit card keeping alive the legacy of Tulsa, Oklahoma's historic Black Wall Street. Cohee also discussed the importance of shopping with Black businesses and investing in Black-led and owned financial institutions. "Our leaders have understood, since the end of slavery, the importance of us being organized in order to be effective in a capitalist society," he said.
