Original, independent,
thought leadership
Menu
Our mission is to publish original, independent, and thought leadership investment research and analysis to inform decision making in sustainable investing and help investors and other stakeholders navigate through an evolving sustainable investing landscape.
We don’t believe that sustainable investing on its own will produce portfolio outperformance, consistently, over time. We do believe, however, that investors should be able to invest in line with their sustainability preferences, in most instances, and at the same time achieve market-based risk adjusted rates of return.
Anchored in a defined classification framework for sustainable funds, our research activities extend to investment strategies, portfolio construction, and the various investment alternatives encompassing sustainable investing across mutual funds. These include, for example, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded notes (ETNs), closed-end funds, REITs, MLPs, as well as individual securities such as stocks, long and short-term bonds, including green bonds, social bonds and sustainable bonds.
We cover the broad arc of sustainable investing strategies, ranging from values-based investing, negative screening or exclusions, thematic investing, impact investing, and ESG integration. These are not mutually exclusive strategies, and each may also employ shareholder/bondholder engagement and proxy voting practices.
Sustainable investing-oriented research focuses on the basics as well as topical subjects, industry trends, and developments, investment products, both new and existing, sustainable investing frameworks, index construction, ESG scores, performance results, investment strategies, portfolio construction, regulatory developments, and more.
We attempt to focus on and cover the drivers of ESG investing in equities and fixed income that, according to investment analysts, include risk management, client demand, regulations, alpha generation and fiduciary responsibility. At the same time, we don’t ignore identified impediments such as the often-cited lack of comparable and historical data.
Our content is intended to inform sustainable investors, the investment decision makers of financial intermediaries, asset owners, such as endowments, foundations, and pension funds, distributors, wealth management platforms, robo-advisors, family offices as well as other investment stakeholders.
We draw upon our years of experience covering the investment management industry and sustainable investing, strong analytical skills, and research capabilities. These combine with a dedicated focus on sustainable investing to deliver objective and independent conclusions, original opinions, and actionable insights published regularly on https://www.sustainableinvest.com
Henry Shilling has worked in the investment management industry or focused on the investment sector for forty-five years. This interval includes long stretches during which Mr. Shilling analyzed and published research on mutual funds and other investment vehicles. More recently, while employed at Moody’s Investors Service, Henry initiated and coordinated Moody’s efforts to disclose and add transparency in research, ratings, and analysis to reflect environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks. He also led the firm to launch and successfully implement a methodology for assessing green bonds worldwide. Over the years, Henry published research articles in these and other capacities, was a frequent commentator, and regularly presented Moody’s views at various industry conferences.
Mr. Shilling is the author of The International Guide to Securities Market Indices, published in 1996 by International Publishing Corp., Chicago, Illinois, and contributed to Money Market Funds in the EU and the US, published in 2014 by Oxford University Press. Mr. Shilling earned a B.A. in economics from Lehman College, City University of New York. He lives and works in New York City.
Steve Schoepke has over 35 years of experience in the investment management and mutual fund industry. His background has focused on investment management oversight, building mutual funds, and related marketing and sales initiatives at the institutional, wholesale and retail levels. Much of Steve’s investment fund experience has been in support of and working with fund Boards, mainly in the role of Trustee-to-management liaison. Steve began his mutual fund experience as an Economist with the Investment Company Institute. At the ICI, he conducted competitive and regulatory analysis. Steve then moved to Lipper Analytical Services as an investment company analyst. Later he took a position as Senior Portfolio Analyst in Moody’s Investor Services’ managed funds group.
In 1997, Steve moved to SunAmerica Asset Management, where he was the Vice President of Research & Product Development. At SunAmerica, he was lead pm for five public fund-of-mutual fund strategies and five SMA fund-of-funds. He was also responsible for manager selections for AIG retail funds globally. More recently, Steve worked at Allianz Global Investors as Senior VP of Investments.
Michael Cosack has spent most of his professional career advising the trustees on their institutional funds’ investment and fiduciary responsibilities. He has a deep passion and commitment to raising the awareness and impact of sustainable investing. As an entrepreneur, he has built several organizations, including one of the largest independent investment consulting firms in the Greater Philadelphia region, stewarding over $3.5 billion of combined assets. The firm was eventually purchased by a national independent financial advisory firm. He is a Principal of ImpactWise LLC, Research Liaison of Sustainable Research & Analysis LLC, Chair of the CFA Society of Philadelphia’s Sustainable Investing Thought Leadership Group, and Board Member of ImpactPHL.
Michael holds an undergraduate degree in business from The College of New Jersey and has achieved multiple educational designations, including the CFA ESG Certificate and LEED Associate. He has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government and is a frequent contributor at industry conferences.
Research and analysis to keep sustainable investors up to-date on a broad range of topics that include trends and developments in sustainable investing and sustainable finance, regulatory updates, performance results and considerations, investing through index funds and actively managed portfolios, asset allocation updates, expenses, ESG ratings and data, company and product news, green, social and sustainable bonds, green bond funds as well as reporting and disclosure practices, to name just a few.
A continuously updated Funds Directory is also available to investors. This is intended to become a comprehensive listing of sustainable mutual funds, ETFs and other investment products along with a description of their sustainable investing approaches as set out in fund prospectuses and related regulatory filings.
Many questions have surfaced in recent years regarding sustainable and ESG investing. Here, investors and financial intermediaries will find materials that describe the various approaches to sustainable investing and their implementation. While sustainable investing approaches vary and they have thus far defied universally accepted definitions, many practitioners agree that they fall into the following broad categories: Values-based investing, investing via exclusions, impact investing, thematic investments and ESG integration. In conjunction with each of these approaches, investors may also adopt various issuer engagement procedures and proxy voting practices. That said, sustainable investing approaches will continue to evolve.
In addition to periodic updates regarding sustainable investing and how this form of investing is evolving, investors and financial intermediaries interested in implementing a sustainable investing approach will also find source materials that cover basic investing themes as well as asset allocation tactics.
Thoughts and ideas targeting sustainable investing strategies executed through various registered and non-registered sustainable investment funds and products such as mutual funds, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs), closed-end funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Unit Investment Trusts (UITs). Coverage extends to investment management firms as well as fund groups.
