Today is International Women’s Day which campaigns for a gender equal world. One free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. And instead is diverse, equitable and inclusive. All of us are responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day and we can help #BreakTheBias.
Our Independent Financial Adviser, Andy Burton, explains how investors can help to #BreakTheBias through an Environmental Social Governance ESG investment approach.
Andy has been an independent financial adviser for a number of years with a keen focus on ethical and sustainable investing.
Andy explains…
“As independent financial advisers it’s our responsibility to educate our clients about financial matters. So not only can we #BreakTheBias ourselves, but we can help our clients too also. As advisers, we are in a privileged position, we are able to raise our clients awareness so that they can align their personal values with their investment strategy and have a positive impact on the world.
Whilst most think the term Sustainable Finance relates to saving the planet, it is so much more, and includes amongst others, Gender Equality. It’s our role to understand our client’s sustainability preferences from the outset. By uncovering the personal, emotional, and social reasons behind a person’s sustainability preferences, we’re able to gauge its overall importance and thus recommend suitable investments aligned with their personal values.
The collective term for this type of investment approach is referred to as Sustainable or Environmental Social Governance (ESG) investing. The E examines the effect of a company’s activities on the environment either directly or indirectly, the S looks at a company’s impact on the society in which it operates, the G explores its corporate governance and behaviour. Whilst the financial services regulator the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), hasn’t agreed the exact terminology for the types of investment available, there are already a wide range of ESG or Sustainable portfolio’s for us to choose from.
These ESG/Sustainable portfolios use The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals as part of their investment process. Goal 5 is Gender Equality. This enables us to screen investments to find those which align with both our clients financial and personal value objectives whether they are wishing to #BreakTheBias or any of the other 16 Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable investing is only going to grow in popularity and importance.”
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