Sustainable Investing: Shaping the Future of Theory and Practice

We outline three themes that cut across the chapters included in this volume. First, the accelerating nature of change in different domains (e.g., technological development and change vis-à-vis the natural environment) is a key concern underlying the ESG debate. While these changes create uncertainties that investors have to cope with, they also create opportunities for markets to transition in new, more sustainable, directions. Second, sustainable investment by itself is a paradigm shift in traditional investment thinking. It challenges fundamental assumptions about markets and even the capitalist system itself. Finally, while we gain more and more knowledge about sustainable investing, we may find that believing in this knowledge (and the very idea of shaping future markets through sustainable investing) is equally needed. To believe in sustainable investing puts our own values and beliefs center stage.