Foreword -- Introduction -- Part 1: The Promise . . . -- Chapter 1. The Stakes -- Chapter 2. Stakeholders Versus Shareholders -- Chapter 3. Activists, Their Arguments-and a Little Engine That Could -- Chapter 4. C-Suite Insurrectionists -- Chapter 5. What if +1°C = −100 trillion? -- Chapter 6. What's the United Nations Got to Do with It? -- Chapter 7. Materiality -- Chapter 8. A Few Words About Indices -- Part 2: The Perils . . . -- Chapter 9. Values Versus Valuations -- Chapter 10. Hardwiring Corporate Goodness -- Chapter 11. Inside the ESG Arms Race -- Chapter 12. Crowded Trades -- Chapter 13. Let's Speak Privately -- Chapter 14. Fight or Flee? -- Part 3: Solutions -- Chapter 15. Civics Lessons -- Chapter 16. Impact Investing at Scale -- Chapter 17. The 1.6 Percent "Solution" -- Conclusion (or How to Avert Our Failed Future) -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix: Exemplars of Hope
Summary:
"Modern capitalism is a mess, and a growing number want finance to fix it. Their chosen cudgel ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing has become a $100 trillion phenomenon in the past half-decade alone. Its success or failure will impact every living creature on earth. Today, ESG priorities drive the strategies of the world's largest corporations; prioritizing shareholders is out; protecting the environment and elevating other stakeholders is in. ESG rules increasingly dictate the investment choices of the world's largest retirement plans and sovereign wealth funds. Yet few know what ESG stands for, let alone how its rules are written or what their consequences will be. Will ESG investing succeed? Not if it stifles entrepreneurialism, subverts market discipline, negates personal responsibility, or forces asset managers to supplant values for valuations, industry insider Terrence Keeley argues. Governments, businesses, civic society and individuals all have crucial roles to play if we are to avoid a climate disaster, end discrimination, promote economic mobility and provide billions of pensioners financial security in their retirements. Obscuring stakeholder responsibilities and ignoring comparative advantage further risks the loss of prosperity and financial stability without protecting the earth from further despoliation. ESG investing is premised on two false tenets: that divestment threats directly alter corporate behavior, and that verifiably good corporations make for great investments. Keeley argues it's time to reassess what ESG has accomplished and where it is heading. The Stakes reveals how ESG investing must be recalibrated and reinforced if it's to have its intended effects. But all is not lost. There are hundreds of companies and NGO's that already provide beneficial, scalable solutions. And those who wish to deploy their capital to improve the world and produce superior returns can consider impact investing instead of indexed ESG funds"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.