Sustainable Investing

Sustainable Investment Analyst

What does the day to day look like?

My day-to-day involves working in a fast-paced environment involving working with a range of different people from portfolio managers, asset managers, research teams, to other internal and external stakeholders.

For example, I support asset managers in assessing a potential project / asset’s ESG performance based on a predefined criteria. This criteria may be driven by regulatory obligations (such as requirements to being a “Sustainability Impact” fund under the UK Sustainable Disclosure Requirements, or to being aligned to an activity classified under the EU Taxonomy) or internal investment commitments (the expectations held by the investors of the asset managers). When undergoing due diligence (assessing a potential project for investment), we would work with the key parties involved in the project to understand the project’s adherence to the asset managers’ commitments/obligations from pre-investment all the way through to exit.

Strategy implementation encompasses a lot of services. An example would be if a company would like to raise a fund in the UK and Europe that would classify as “sustainable” under a number of EU and UK ESG regulations. We would assist in shaping the fund to ensure that when the fund is launched, it would adhere to these requirements and avoid any risk of greenwashing. This may include including ESG metrics and indicators into asset allocation strategy, ensuring robust engagement policies with investee companies, adherence to social safeguards like human rights and more. Another example would be if an existing fund or fund manager is looking to integrate ESG considerations into their traditional operational departments (e.g. risk management teams, deals teams, etc.). This would include valuing assets’ exposure to climate-related risks and factoring them into risk appetites and investment decisions, improvements to the firm’s governance structures, and so forth. Strategy implementation is a great way to learn how to translate ambitions into practical actions

(Sector-specific question): Would you recommend getting a certification for ESG investing?

Certification helps you build your credentials and confidence to speak about particular topics relating to ESG investing. Some people in the finance sector go for a certification to improve their reputation. Ultimately, companies really are looking for self-starters who are able to pair a good understanding of ESG and sustainability with financial knowledge.

I would also add that a background in finance is very valuable. Pairing a financial background with good understanding of ESG and sustainability as a whole is key to excelling in a career in this rapidly emerging field.

Advice for young people looking to enter this field:

Be curious - keep reading and speaking to people about the evolving space of ESG investing. It is a rapidly changing field so embrace the journey!

Stay on top of the latest trends in the space, such as mandatory and voluntary sustainability disclosures and what this means for different companies.

Come to interviews with different perspectives about financial sector implications for various ESG related regulations.

Understand ESG ratings and rankings, particularly where their limitations are and what the landscape looks like for different industries. Some, such as renewable energy, are growing very fast.

Being able to communicate effectively is key - you can showcase that in the interview by giving examples of when you tailored communication and presentation to different audiences.

Some  of the advice from the above case study have been extracted from a ‘SustainaPod’  podcast episode. The link to the full episode is provided here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yYp98rIDw41I7QprSvuMX?si=e3ce1d2810d34a0a