Net positive pays off for investors. Doing right by stakeholders is good for shareholders. After years of guesswork, solid data now shows that companies focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance get equal or higher returns in the market. In 2020, 81 percent of sustainable indexes outperformed their benchmarks, and over a four-year period, portfolios weighted toward higher ESG scores “outperformed their benchmarks by between 81 and 243 basis points.”48 And yet, investors still ask nervously whether ESG will outperform. That’s an odd question—no asset class in history
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