Why ESG investing is becoming the norm

A lot of investors say they want to put their money into “ESG” funds. But unless you actively opt for a “sin” fund jammed full of companies behaving badly, that’s probably what you’re getting anyway, says Merryn Somerset Webb.

Angelic looking person
We're all probably a little more saintly that we realise
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

Last year was the year ESG investing (finding homes for your money while looking out for environmental, social and governance concerns) really took off –in 2020, $152bn of new money poured into ESG-labelled products and the total global assets in these products hit more than $1.6trn.

The young are all over it. A new survey from Montfort Communications, a PR company, and Boring Money, a financial news website, makes the point: in a poll of retail investors, some 63% of 18-34-year-olds say they would choose a new fund manager based on their approach to ESG. That number falls to 17% for the 55-plus group. In the younger group, 78% of respondents say ESG affects their investment choices. That falls to 67% among the 35-54 age group and about a third of the 55-plus group.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.