
July 30, 2022 - For social good, S&P beats ESG
For social good, S&P beats ESG by Matthew Lau
Appeared in The Financial Post on July 27, 2022
Gina's Thoughts
"ESG-friendly quarters such as public universities have committed to divesting their portfolios of fossil fuel companies. Public pension plans, including the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan, are also committed to ESG. ESG investing may be all the rage, but it is an outrage that public pension plans are pursuing it: they have a fiduciary duty to the people whose money they manage and their mandate is to invest it to achieve the best risk-adjusted financial returns. Their adoption of ESG investing is contrary to this mandate." Oil and Gas companies are paying out large dividends to their shareholders, and the one year return for the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index is 91.7%. They adhere to high standards of governance, provide well-paying jobs, contribute billions to the government coffers, are innovative, and produce some of the cleanest oil and gas in the world. As Matthew Lau writes, "If you want to be socially responsible with your investing, there is no need to go for the expensive ESG funds. The S&P 500 ETF is perfectly fine."
Read Article 