View From The Top: Investec's Aird why it's time to walk the walk on sustainable investing

Lip service not enough in ethical investments

During past political elections there have been times when sections of the great British electorate have said one thing publicly, while voting completely differently in the privacy of the polling booth, writes David Aird, managing director (UK client group) at Investec Asset Management.

Waxing lyrical about their social conscience and left-of-centre views over the dinner party table, while privately ticking the ballot paper next to the party with the lowest personal tax regime. My guess is that sustainable investing has been suffering from just this sort of behaviour, publicly saying one thing and privately doing another.    Things are changing fast and in today's world just being philosophically aligned is not enough - a fact that I am acutely aware of having worked in a company for the past 18 years where ESG is considered a part of its DNA. ESG drives outperfor...