Page 5 - CCFA Journal - Fourth Issue

加中金融 Investment Forum 投资论坛

And for us at Honeytree, ESG is about broadening our concepts of good portfolio construction, better performance, and identifying better performers
who are at the forefront of environmental and social issues rather than just looking at the core fundamental financial considerations. For me, it’s about
having a good business sense. We usually look at “purpose-driven” companies - companies that understand that it’s beyond simple profitability of
products and services and instead an understanding of stakeholder-focused approach which provides insights into company’s management, and which
we believe will help them grow in the long-term and outperform. This is a notion of the virtuous circle of good management. stakeholder driven. It
makes perfect sense that you want to know more about the companies that you are investing in from both a risk and long-term growth perspective.

There are many new ways to understand this information, but traditionally, we’ve only thought of shareholders as the stakeholder that really matters.
But having a more inclusive understanding of stakeholders ensures better decision making, which will drive greater productivity and long-term
performance.
韩笑: 不仅仅是为了利润而基于一套原则的投资理念历久弥新。要真正理解 ESG 投资，探索这种投资方式的演变和发展很重要。在
成立 Honeytree 之前的 2004 年，您就涉猎 ESG 投资吧。请谈一下当时如何参与并看待 ESG 的发展历史?

Paula: 是啊。2004 年之前我从事投资管理工作。我对这个行业非常感兴趣，那时对投资世界的许多方面都有兴趣。但一直以来关于社
会责任投资的知识，对社会真正起到积极作用，对我来说是强调了一个更现实的投资的价值观。所以，我冒了很大的风险，跳出了投
资管理加入了一家研究公司 Sustainalytics。在接下来 9 年，我学到了很多关于学习研究这些事情的价值意义，公司在运营管理中对员工
社会和环境的影响等等。相比较短期思维，它们让人有更长远的眼光。

我有机会和养老基金投资经理人讨论为什么应该考虑 ESG，尝试不同的方式来解释它的理念，使其在投资行业中立足。因为分享了，
也预期由此获取最好的 回报。ESG 会产生反效果吗? 争论持续至 2005 年或 2006 年，直到联合国支持负责任投资原则出台，并支持对
公司可能面临的风险和复杂性的所有方面的考虑。这样一来帮助到 ESG 投资面临的一些障碍，但它仍然面临着业绩衡量的挑战。人们
对 ESG 因素持有不同的看法，例如，一些人可能认为烟草生产公司可能与他们自己的价值观相悖。

这是最初为客户创建这些数据集的一部分,但我认为随着时间的推移,我们必须考虑更广泛的因素的行业。例如，你可能拥有最好的公
司，在烟草业、博彩业、采矿业等领域做得很好。对于零售业来说，关于 ESG 最有趣的问题是，我们在产品方面看到的很多东西并没
有涉及到我们对 ESG 和负责任投资的概念。所以，有很多方法可以把它切成小块，但这也是影响的来源。影响力投资将为具有社会或
环境事业的社会企业提供更好的视角，这些企业往往是私营的，并对当地社区产生积极的影响。

影响也可以引入公共资本·领域，ESG 投资可以通过投资于真正发挥作用的公司。我曾在公司初创时受到启发，市场上有一些空白领
域，尤其是在加拿大，那里出现了很多基于 ESG 的被动投资选择。我们着眼于所有行业，试图建立一个更好的投资组合，但最终却着
眼于整个指数。作为投资者，我们想要做的是创建一个非常集中和积极的方法来进行 ESG 和影响力投资-通过观察那些有优秀财务状
况的公司，了解政府，了解他们最大的资产员工，如何对待员工将最终成为公司成功的一部分。如果管理得当，这些都将使这些公司
受益。这就是我们所说的全球最负责任的增长型公司。这场革命将 ESG 带向了多个方向，填补了市场空白的，也让 ESG 的研究团队
获取数据，建立高影响力的投资组合。
有很多研究关注了ESG，并试图了解ESG是否推动了业绩的增长，我们确实看到，如果你使用基于非常具体的方法的ESG评级列表，
这些投资在历史上超过了指数。我绝对相信，把这些问题作为公司的声誉风险或运营风险的一部分是常识。也许从某种意义上说，它
是一个独立的资产类别，但它确实应该成为主流。我们会考虑其他因素，如人员流动率、领导能力、多样性和气候变化。它们都是我
们在 ESG 投资决策中应该考虑的基本因素。
Xiao: The idea of investing based on a set of principles, and not merely for profits, is as old as the concept of investing itself. Before ESG, the concept
of impact investing is already around. To truly understand ESG investing, it is important to explore the evolution and development of this investment
approach. Before founding Honeytree, you already have extensive experience in ESG investing since 2004. How did you get involved with ESG, and
what do you think of the evolution history of ESG?
Paula: I got involved first in 2004, and before that I was in investment management. I was very excited about the industry, but I think what I learned
about socially responsible investing highlighted for me a more complete and realistic view as to the broad value of investing and how to really make a
difference.

So, I actually took a big risk jumping out of the investment management industry and joined a research firm, Sustainalytics. Throughout the next 9 years,
I learned a lot about the value of why we look at these things, how the companies treat their employees and the communities where they are operating,
how they manage their environmental footprint, etc. These lend to more long-term insights, with more impact as opposed to being focused on the
short-term returns

I had opportunities to talk with the allocators, pension plans, wealth funds, and investment managers in terms of why you should consider ESG, and
we actually explain ESG in different ways it to make it viable and attractive for the investment industry. Would ESG be counter-productive? Does it
impact negatively on performance by restricting investment universe? This has been a continuous argument. In 2005 or 2006, when the United Nations
backed principles for responsible investing Launched with a validating study on the importance of considering ESG issues as part of being a fiduciary.
This helped break down some barriers.
Helping investors consider these factors was the impetus for creating ESG ratings, research and screening tools. I think as time goes on, the industry
has continued to expand Its thinking on how we think about ESG. For example, you might have a best of sector company, managing ESG risks doing
really well but happens to be in the tobacco sector, gambling, oil and gas sectors, etc. A lot of what we see out there that is considered ESG investment
products holds these kinds of companies and that does not reflect on many investors notions of what is ESG and responsible investing. So, there are
many ways to slice it and dice it. This is where the notion of impact investing comes from. Impact investing generates a better understanding of investing
for good.
Impact investing which is traditionally relegated to private asset class, invests in companies that have a social or environmental mandate. But this notion
can also be brought into the public equity world. I was inspired by the idea of Impact investing, and saw a gap in the market place. There were a lot of
ESG-based passive investment options coming out. the construction of these index products along with active Best of Sector products was that they
include all sectors and end up looking and performing like the index. At Honeytree we wanted to create a very concentrated and active approach to
ESG and impact investing - by looking at companies that have strong governance and management practices, who understand that their employees and
client experience is hugely important to driving the company’s success. Transitioning to low carbon and managing their environmental product and
operations footprint will drive greater efficiencies and savings and meet long term regulatory changes. That is what we call the most responsibly-growing
companies globally.
CCFA JOURNAL OF FINANCE June 2021
Page 5 第5页