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Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Katherine Collins – Impact and ESG Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.129]
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Show Notes
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My guest this week is Katherine Collins, who is the head of sustainable investing at Putnam Investments, a portfolio manager on two of Putnam’s sustainable investing funds, and the author of the book The Nature of Investing: Resilient Investment Strategies through Biomimicry.
Our conversation is on the ins and outs of ESG and impact investing, a young but increasingly common topic in the investing world. This is challenging ground for me as a quant, because the data available is so new and limited—so Katherine’s perspective was very helpful as we continue to learn. Given the importance of this topic, I’m also searching for more guests with both positive and negative views on the role of ESG in an investing framework, and welcome suggestions for future guests. Please enjoy my conversation with Katherine Collins.
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.
Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag
Show Notes
(First Question) –Mechanical vs human judgement processes
– ESG, and the non-utility portion of it.
– Data behind the objective function that is different from returns
– What are the most interesting data sets
– How does she determine what factors to target
– Why do we know that diversity of experience/opinion/background is good for a company
– The social vertical and how it plays into her investing system and better returns
– Corporate Sustainability: First Evidence on Materiality
– Environmental factors and the issues that jump to mind
– Importance of signing the UNPRI and is it just box checking
– Data for companies on the solution oriented companies
– Why doesn’t the market recognize the Alpha
– LP interest in ESG investing
– How other groups of investors approach ESG
– Best practices at business making an impact in ESG
– Unique or interesting tactics in environmental
– Who is the biggest opponent or position in opposition of ESG
– Most interesting edge
– Playbook for business managers thinking about social for the first time
– Measurements vs principles/values
– Advice to quants trying to use ESG in how they gather data
– Most memorable encounter with a company through the lens of ESG
– Where to learn more about ESG
– How much role regulation plays in the future of business sustainability
– Any more lessons from her research into natural systems
– Kindest thing anyone has done for her
Learn More
For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.
Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub
Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag
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