Investing is no longer just about the returns. A growing number of investors also want their money to fund companies as committed to a better world as they are to their bottom line.

投资不再仅仅关注回报。 越来越多的投资者也希望他们的资金能够投资那些.既致力于创造更美好的世界，也关注他们的利润底线的公司。

 

Socially responsible investing and one of its subsets, impact investing, have attracted more than one-third of the assets under professional management in the U.S., according to a 2020 survey by the U.S. Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. That amounted to more $17 trillion in assets under management based on socially responsible criteria, an increase of 42% from 2018.

根据美国可持续与责任投资论坛 2020 年的一项调查，社会责任投资及其子集之一影响力投资吸引了美国专业管理下超过三分之一的资产。 这相当于管理着超过 17 万亿美元的资产

基于社会责任标准的资产，比 2018 年增加了 42%。

 

The growing demand has fueled a proliferation of funds and strategies that integrate ethical considerations into the investment process. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG), socially responsible investing (SRI), and impact investing are industry terms often used interchangeably by clients and professionals alike, under the assumption that they all describe the same approach. However, these terms have subtle differences of meaning.

不断增长的需求推动了融合道德考量至投资过程中的基金和策略的大量增长。 环境、社会和治理 (ESG)、社会责任投资 (SRI) 和影响力投资是客户和专业人士经常互换使用的行业术语，他们通常假设这些术语描述的是同样的投资方法。然而，这些术语之间存在微小的意义差异。

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

要点

·A growing number of investors want to encourage companies to act responsibly in addition to delivering financial returns.

·越来越多的投资者不仅希望公司提供财务回报，还希望鼓励公司负责任地行动。

·The terms environmental, social, and governance (ESG), socially responsible investing (SRI), and impact investing are often used interchangeably, but have important differences.

·‘环境、社会与治理’（ESG）、‘社会责任投资’（SRI）以及‘影响力投资’等术语虽经常被互换使用，但它们之间存在重要的区别。

·ESG looks at the company's environmental, social, and governance practices alongside more traditional financial measures.

·ESG考虑公司的环境、社会与治理实践，并将其与更传统的财务指标并重视。

·Socially responsible investing involves choosing or disqualifying investments based on specific ethical criteria.

·社会责任投资涉及根据特定道德准则选择或排除投资。

·Impact investing aims to help a business or organization produce a social benefit.

·影响力投资旨在帮助企业或组织产生社会效益。

 

ESG

环境、社会及治理

ESG refers to the environmental, social, and governance criteria for evaluating corporate behavior and screening potential investments. The ESG evaluation supplements traditional financial analysis by identifying a company's ESG risks and opportunities, which is to say the money they stand to lose by not acting on ESG risks and the money they stand to gain from seizing ESG opportunities. Financial returns remain the primary objective of ESG investing.

ESG是指用于评估企业行为和筛选潜在投资的环境、社会和治理标准。 ESG 评估通过识别公司面临的ESG风险与机遇，对传统财务分析进行补充，也就是说，通过不应对ESG风险可能遭受的财务损失，以及通过抓取ESG机遇可能获得的收益。 尽管如此，财务回报依旧是ESG投资的主要目标。

 

The table below lists some commonly-considered ESG factors.

下表列出了一些常见的 ESG 因素。

 

SRI

社会责任投资

Socially responsible investing goes one step further than ESG by eliminating or adding investments based solely on a specific ethical consideration. For example, an investor might opt to avoid any mutual fund or exchange traded fund (ETF) that owns the stocks of firearms manufacturers. Alternatively, an investor might seek to allocate a fixed proportion of their portfolio to companies that donate a high proportion of their profits to charitable causes.

社会责任投资比 ESG 更进一步，仅基于特定的道德考虑来消除或增加投资。 例如，投资者可能会选择避开任何持有枪支制造商股票的共同基金或交易所交易基金（ETF）。 或者，投资者可能会寻求将其投资组合的固定比例分配给将大部分利润捐赠给慈善事业的公司。

 

Socially responsible investors might also avoid companies associated with:

具有社会责任感的投资者也可能会避开与以下相关的公司：

 

·Alcohol, tobacco, and other addictive substances

·酒精、烟草和其他成瘾物质

·Gambling

·赌博

·Weapons production

·武器生产

·Human rights and labor violations

·侵犯人权和劳工行为

·Environmental damage

·环境破坏

 

Impact Investing

影响力投资

In impact or thematic investing, positive outcomes are of the utmost importance—meaning the investments need to produce a tangible social good. The objective of impact investing is to help a business or organization achieve specific goals beneficial to society or the environment. For example, an impact investment might fund nonprofit research in clean energy.

在影响力或主题投资中，积极成果至关重要——这意味着投资需要产生有形的社会效益。 影响力投资的目标是帮助企业或组织实现对社会或环境有益的特定目标。 例如，影响力投资可能会资助清洁能源领域的非营利性研究。

 

The Bottom Line

总结

Approximately 38% of investors in a recent survey reported allocating assets to a responsible investing strategy, while 66% said recent climate disasters have made them more interested in responsible investing. The desire to invest ethically is especially pronounced among millennials, the study showed.

在最近的一项调查中，约 38% 的投资者表示将资产分配给负责任的投资策略，而 66% 的投资者表示最近的气候灾难使他们对负责任的投资更感兴趣。 研究显示，千禧一代对道德投资的渴望尤其明显。

 

Accommodating that desire to do good remains no easy task given the growing complexity of ESG analysis and the proliferation of financial products marketed as socially responsible. Luckily, investors don't need to go it alone. Several rating agencies score publically traded companies on their sustainability goals. The agencies include Morningstar, Bloomberg, MSCI, and others.

在ESG分析的复杂性日益增长和被标榜为社会责任投资的金融产品泛滥的背景下，满足这种做好事的愿望依旧充满挑战。幸运的是，投资者不必单独面对这些挑战。 多家评级机构对上市公司的可持续发展目标进行评分。 这些机构包括晨星、彭博、MSCI 等。

 

 

By MICHELLE ZHOU

作者：Michelle ZHOU

Updated November 28, 2022

更新日期：2022 年 11 月 28 日

Reviewed by PAMELA RODRIGUEZ

审核：PAMELA RODRIGUEZ

Fact checked by AMANDA JACKSON

核实：AMANDA JACKSON

 

 

 

英文来源：Investopedia