New Evidence Supports ESG as a Factor in Mitigating the Impact of Covid for Investors

Initial evidence during the Covid lockdown showed ESG funds outperforming unscreened funds Subsequent empirical studies have shown ESG has been associated with better performance throughout the pandemic Some results may conflate different objectives by including both material and immaterial ESG, and other metrics suggest that companies with similar characteristics to those with high ESG scores did outperform

Equity markets fell rapidly during the initial weeks and months of the Covid-19 outbreak. The economic shock hit companies and countries differently depending on the severity of the shock, the quality of government responses, and company-specific factors such as how they scored on environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics.The initial co...