Finfluence: 5x new research on flexible sustainability beliefs, sectoral ESG, brown Tech companies, fund outperformance myths, and positive finfluence
Finfluence: 5x new research on flexible sustainability beliefs, sectoral ESG, brown Tech companies, fund outperformance myths, and positive finfluence
Flexible beliefs: Stewardship Theatre and Political Catering with Congress by Massimo Massa and Lei Zhang as of June 3rd, 2025: “We study how political pressure influences asset managers to adapt to the changing political landscape in the US Congress. … We find strong evidence that the proxy voting behavior of large asset management companies on environmental and social proposals aligns closely with the prevailing political preferences in Congress and changes accordingly as political dominance shifts” (abstract). My comment: That seem to be more or less the same companies which claimed ESG DNA a few months ago. I did not know that DNA depends on political factors.
Sectoral ESG: Sectoral and Financial Drivers of ESG Adoption: Evidence from Multi-Model Panel Data Analysis by A. Seddik Meziani as of June 4th, 2025: “ESG engagement refers to the integration of environmental, social, and governance factors into corporate strategy. … Results show that Free Cash Flow Margin and Return on Assets (ROA) are positively associated with ESG engagement, while leverage and asset turnover have a negative impact. … Sector affiliation plays a crucial role, with Energy firms performing better in ESG, while Technology and Financial firms lag in social and governance aspects” (abstract).
Brown Tech: Greening digital companies: monitoring emissions and climate commitments 2025 by the International Telecommunication Union and World Benchmarking Alliance as of June 5th, 2025: “The rapid growth of AI is expected to shape energy demand and emission trajectories …According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global data centres consumed 415 TWh of electricity in 2024 (1.5 per cent of global 9 Greening Digital Companies report 2025 use) and are projected to more than double consumption by 2030. Digital companies assessed in this report that are heavily investing in AI saw their operational emissions in 2023 rise to 150 per cent of their 2020 levels. … Scope 3 emissions make up 84 per cent of total emissions for companies with full disclosures (more than five times higher than the combined total of Scope 1 and 2 emissions) but are not universally reported: 106 companies disclosed all relevant GHG Protocol categories of Scope 3 emission in 2023 (Soehnholz: Out of 200) … Some 82 companies have set absolute Scope 3 reduction targets … However, many of these targets are either limited in scope or based on intensity metrics, which track emissions per unit of revenue or product, rather than total reductions” (p. 9 and 10). My comment: “The Top Stocks Widely Owned by ESG Funds” (from Morningstar by Frances AufderHeide from Nov. 18th, 2024) …are Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet. Also see social deficits of such companies here: Glorreiche 7: Sind sie unsozial?
Fund outperformance? Chasing Shadows: Predicting outperformers in private assets by Lloyd Han, Sean Klein, German Ramirez and Rebecca Yuan as of June 10th, 2025: “Investors face key practical challenges when selecting private asset managers. In-flight performance metrics for a fund are unreliable and mean-revert over the life of the fund. … As a result, while final measures of performance show persistence of private equity and private debt funds within the same manager, investors cannot outperform a simple equal-weighted allocation to funds by picking managers based on contemporaneous measures of fund performance. For venture capital funds, we find some evidence that historical performance may help investors generate incremental returns” (p.13/14). My comment: When investing in private markets, expect average market performance and only rely on returns after all fees and after all implementation (including opportunity) costs and not top quartile performance.
Positive finfluence? Understanding finfluencers: Roles and strategic partnerships in retail investor engagement by Marius Mölders, Lennart Bock, Eloy Barrantes, and Henning Zülch as of June 2025: “Financial influencers, or ‘finfluencers’, are emerging players in the financial community … The online survey responses of a representative sample of German-speaking finfluencers reveal that, despite apparent contradictions in their financial motives, finfluencers see themselves as advocates of financial education. While serving for financial services marketing, finfluencers also can be integrated into strategic partnerships, including retail investor relations and financial literacy initiatives. Despite controversies, we conceptualize finfluencers as agents of change promoting financial literacy, empowerment, and inclusion while also normalising financial conversations in everyday life” (abstract, finfluencer selection based on finanzblognews.de, finanzblogroll.net, geldz.de (p.9)). My comment: Hopefully, the “advice” of these finfluencers is in line with current financial research. I hope that many of them read my blogposts 🙂
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Werbung (in: Finfluence)
Unterstützen Sie meinen Researchblog, indem Sie in den von mir beratenen globalen Small-/Mid-Cap-Investmentfonds (siehe FutureVest Equity Sustainable Development Goals R) investieren und/oder ihn empfehlen.
Der Fonds konzentriert sich auf die UN-Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung mit durchschnittlich einzigartig hohen 99% SDG-vereinbaren Umsätzen der Portfoliounternehmen und sehr hohen E-, S- und G-Best-in-Universe-Scores sowie einem besonders umfangreichen Aktionärsengagement (siehe auch My fund).
Zum Vergleich: Ein traditioneller globaler Small-Cap-ETF hat eine SDG-Umsatzvereinbarkeit von etwa 5 %, ein diversifizierter Gesundheits-ETF 13 %, Artikel 9 Fonds circa 20%, liquide Impactfonds und ein ETF für erneuerbare Energien ungefähr 40 % (vgl. Hohe SDG Umsätze? Nur wenige Investmentfonds!).
Insgesamt hat der von mir beratene Fonds seit der Auflage im August 2021 eine ähnliche Performance wie traditionelle globale Small- und Mid-Cap-Fonds (vgl. z.B. Fonds-Portfolio: Mein Fonds | CAPinside).
Ein Fondsinvestment war also bisher ein „Free Lunch“ in Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit: Ein besonders konsequent nachhaltiges Portfolio mit marktüblichen Renditen und (eher niedrigeren) Risiken. Vergangene Performance ist allerdings kein guter Indikator für künftige Performance.
