The Netherlands is becoming a leader in the movement toward investing around the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (see “European Pension Funds Tilt Capital Toward ‘SDG Investing’”).
Now comes Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners with an equities benchmarking system (paywall) to make such investing easier.
The system scores publicly-listed companies with simple plusses, minuses and zeros, based on their SDG impact. The scoring isn’t very sophisticated yet because most companies don’t report against SDG metrics.
Some of the scores are surprising, like the positive ratings for “specialty chemicals” companies, which are vital for technologies like solar photovoltaics. “It’s a crude method,” concedes NN IP’s Willem Schramade.
“But in the absence of data you have to start somewhere.” For individual investors, Toniic’s Impact Theme Framework helps match impact investments to the 2030 global goals.
This post originally appeared in ImpactAlpha’s daily newsletter. Get The Brief.
Photo credit: UN
