34: What the Heck is ESG Investing with Liz Simmie

<p class="p1">Today, Stephanie and Kevin sit down with Liz Simmie, Co-Founder of Toronto-based Honeytree Investment Management, which just so happens to be one of the very few women-led responsible asset management firms around the world.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1">Honeytree truly believes that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) data is just as important to assessing a company<span class="s1">’</span>s long-term growth and risk as financial data, and so they integrate both, equally. In other words, <em>ESG is real investing</em>!</p> <p class="p1"><br /> With the belief that, <span class="s1">“</span>ESG is a core function of the board and the management team and part of day-to-day operations in all aspects of the business,” Liz tackles the all-too common pitfalls of ESG initiatives and by extension the usual criticisms that crop up against them. She paints a detailed picture of ESG done right and its resulting impact on an organization<span class="s1">’</span>s long-term bottom line.</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1"><em>Values-aligned investing</em> is a big topic for us in 2022, so we<span class="s1">’</span>re excited to dive deep into the nuts and bolts of ESG investing with Liz!</p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p1"><strong>Key Topics:</strong></p> <p class="p1">Defining <span class="s1">“</span>ESG” (2:03)</p> <p class="p1">Liz<span class="s1">’</span>s journey and Honeytree (9:05)</p> <p class="p1">Addressing greenwashing, pinkwashing, and other ESG stereotypes (15:40)</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“</span>Both Canada and Europe are way, way, way behind the U.S. on workforce racial diversity disclosure.” (23:35)</p> <p class="p1">The case for stakeholder-governed businesses (26:53)</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“</span>We remember when ESG was SRI (Socially-Responsible Investing)…” (31:39)</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1">“</span>We<span class= "s1">’</span>re whatever the opposite of activist investors are.” (37:35)</p> <p class="p1">How to connect with Liz (41:50)</p>