Investment professionals generally focus on fundamental, quantitative and technical attributes to select stocks for inclusion in portfolios (i.e. earnings momentum, valuation, price trends, etc). However, beyond that, there are many factors which are not easy to measure in monetary terms but may play a significant role in the long term performance of a security, namely Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors.
Responsible Investing (RI), also known as “sustainable investing,” refers to the process of using ESG factors to select the stocks of companies which are committed to improving their business practices along these factors. Tangible examples of this include companies committed to reducing their water usage, carbon footprint, increasing diversity in their ranks and generally aspiring to have a positive societal impact.
The BMO Nesbitt Burns Portfolio Advisory Team (PAT) actively manages a portfolio of 20 securities which we believe can offer attractive returns, while striving to have a positive societal impact.
Further details on this approach can be found here.