Environmental, social, and governance investing have been one of the largest sources of outperformance in the last two years, however, a mis-selling scandal could be coming to ESG investing. Most investors know mis-selling scandals from PPI, endowment mortgages, and diesel cars. ‘Greenwashing’ is not new by any means but high-profile cases with DWS and BlackRock are both escalating. BlackRock whistleblower Tariq Fancy said this could just be the beginning and that a combination of marketing hype and false promises could cause more scandal in the upcoming years. The difference will be if funds are on the hook for the language they put forth and that the Paris Agreement could be critical to holding them accountable.
Finsum: ESG investing could be reaching its peak performance, time will tell howgGovernments begin the crackdown.