NYU Stern’s free “ESG study” database
- NYU Stern has conducted a study of 1400 ESG studies that examine the relationship between ESG and financial performance.
- They are freely accessible in the NYU Stern’s “ROSI Research Database.”
Over 1400 studies over the past five years? That’s a whole lot of research. The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business partnered with Rockefeller Asset Management to pour over those studies and create a new meta-study. They call it “meta,” I call it “mega.”
The six big findings were:
- Time Matters – Improved financial performance due to ESG becomes more noticeable over longer time horizons.
- Investment Strategy Beats Negative Screening – ESG integration as an investment strategy performs better than negative screening approaches.
- Downside Protection – ESG investing provides downside protection, especially during a social or economic crisis.
- Leads to More Innovation & Risk Management – Sustainability initiatives at corporations appear to drive better financial performance due to mediating factors such as improved risk management and more innovation.
- Low-Carbon is Key – Managing for a low-carbon future improves financial performance.
- Strategy Matters – ESG disclosure without an accompanying strategy does not drive financial performance.
By the way, those 1400 studies that examine the relationship between ESG and financial performance are now freely available in the NYU Stern’s “ROSI Research Database.” Hats off on such a noteworthy & grand accomplishment! Tensie Whalen is doing some really great things at NYU Stern.
And here is a deck on ESG engagement studies by Nawar Alsaadi capturing the outcome of three meta-studies (covering 3200 ESG research papers). Nawar says this body of work confirms without a doubt that ESG factors integration in the investment and corporate management process creates value at multiple levels. Said another way, responsible investing (and management) is not just morally superior to traditional investing, it is empirically more profitable.