December 21, 2017 — In this month’s ESG Perspectives, we announce that the Sage ESG Intermediate Credit ETF (GUDB), which made its market debut this past November, was assigned a 5-globe sustainability score by Morningstar Research. We also provide a case study on Apple’s green bond issuance.

October 21, 2017 — In the world of investing, women’s intentions are fast becoming actions and their social value preferences are increasingly taking root throughout their respective investment activities as they seek competitive market returns. In our view, these important trends will only strengthen as women gain more self-determined financial independence and they benefit from the estimated $30 trillion of investable assets they stand to control over the next few decades. This massive gender and inter-generational wealth transfer will undoubtedly play a key role in furthering the desire for and mainstreaming of sustainable investment strategies.

September 1, 2017 — In this addition of ESG Perspectives, we explore the importance of understanding style biases associated with ESG investing, as well as the challenges sustainable investors face in evaluating the use of proceeds for Municipal debt.

August 21, 2017 — When it comes to ESG investing, one of the major questions out there centers around measuring impact. How do you do it? What metrics do you use? How do I, as an investor, know what impact my investment dollars are having on the environment or a local economy? A major part of the ESG evaluation process at Sage is looking at and trying to measure impact, be it on the environment or on the underlying community. The municipal issue we will look at below will help show how Sage looks at and how an investor can look at what type of impact their investment dollars are having from an ESG perspective.

June 21, 2017 — Climate policy at the federal level is one of the main factors influencing the private sector, but not the only important factor. In recent years, the US corporate community in aggregate has been moving to less carbonintense business operations driven by the following main factors: shareholder and customer demand, US potential regulation and International Climate Policy. US corporates still face rising shareholder/customer engagement on climate issues as well as climate change policy at the state/local level and international markets in which the company operates.

May 21, 2017 — For those looking to allocate investment dollars into a market sector with an environmental, social or governance focus, there is no better place to start than municipal bonds. After all, municipalities have been issuing social impact bonds for decades to support essential community services, such as public schools, hospitals, affordable housing and infrastructure projects. Over the last five years or so there has been an increase in projects focused on having a greater environmental impact, specifically in mass transit, clean energy, pollution reduction, and resource preservation, to name a few.

April 4, 2017 — Despite broad media coverage and interest from investors of all sizes, defining sustainable investing remains a challenge. Socially Responsible, Sustainable, ESG, Impact, Ethical, Green… The list of names is long and the different types of investing are often wrongly grouped together, when in reality some of these strategies are designed to have different outcomes.

September 19, 2016 — Sustainable investing is a way for clients to achieve their investment goals while doing good from a global and societal perspective.