Q1 2021 Impact Update

At Zevin Asset Management, we build responsible investment portfolios for our clients. We then address risks and create positive social impact by engaging with portfolio companies. We use a range of techniques to move companies toward better environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, but shareholder proposals are often necessary to turn up the heat. In Q1, we received word that several of our proposals would appear on company ballots in the coming months.

Responsible Investment and Divestment: Our Testimony

Another year has begun with climate catastrophe bearing down on our civilization. Two years after historic bushfires, Australia is now facing the worst flooding in decades. NATO is warning about an intensification of climate change’s effects, which could “lead to more extreme weather, to droughts and to flooding, force people to move, to more fierce competition about scarce resources, water, land.” This is already obvious for poor and marginalized communities like the “climate migrants” facing human rights violations at the US-Mexico border.

How I Learned to Start Worrying (About Values) and Escape Traditional Investing

I came to my work in socially responsible investing because I was bothered by the inconsistencies between the ethical lifestyle I was trying to lead and the investments I was making in my professional life. I came to realize that no matter what I did at home in terms of supporting environmental or social causes or being a conscious consumer, these positive behaviors and consumer choices were dwarfed by the negative effects of the investments I was making as an equity analyst and portfolio manager at a large conventional asset management firm.