LogoLogo
About oikosContact Us
  • Welcome to the Toolkit!
  • Table of Contents
  • What is Sustainable Finance?
  • Newsletter
  • An Invitation to Join Us
  • Toolkit Resources
    • Lessons
      • History of Sustainable Finance
      • SRI - Socially Responsible Investment
      • ESG - Environmental Social Governance
      • Impact Investing
      • Banking and Asset Management
      • Equity and Valuation
      • Green Bonds and Climate Financing
      • Frameworks
      • Risk Management
      • Insurance
      • Green Buildings
      • Carbon Pricing
      • CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Innovation and ClimateTech
      • Climate Justice
      • Bonus Learning
        • Rating Agencies
        • Divestment
        • Personal Investing
        • Shareholder Action
    • Interviews
      • Private Sector
        • Karen Lin - ESG Consulting
        • Kelly Kirsch - Sustainable Finance Careers
        • Ibrahim Rashied - ESG Research
        • Steve Waygood - Aviva Investors
      • Public Sector
        • Yuki Yashui - UNEP FI
      • Supporting Sectors
        • Alice Khounta - GABV Banking Alliance
        • Amy Ryan - ESG Strategies
        • Andy Agathangelou - Transparency Times
        • Chai Locher - Institute for Social Banking
        • Lubna Maria Elia - NEIII Impact Investing
        • Paul Gower - University of Warwick
    • Career Paths
      • Necessary Skills
      • LinkedIn Is Your Friend
      • Where to Apply?
      • Competency Greenwashing
      • Job Descriptions
    • Around the World
      • Switzerland
      • Kenya
      • The Caribbean
    • Online Resources
      • Universities
      • Books
      • Companies
      • ESG Data and Reporting
      • Research
        • Carbon Washing
        • Impact Investing
      • Tools
      • Partnerships
      • Glossary of Important Terms
      • News Sources
      • Trainings
        • B-Corp
        • SDG Impact Measurement
        • Candriam
        • Carbon Literacy Training
        • Corporate Finance Institute
        • CFA
        • Climate Reality Leaders
        • IADB
        • US SIF
      • Organizations
        • SOCAP Global
        • SIF
    • For Teachers
  • Activities & Events
    • Conferences
      • Upcoming Conferences
      • oiConference
    • Competitions
    • Events
      • Twitter Convo
    • Organizers
    • Workshops
      • Integrated Capital Game
        • Funding Source
        • Types of Capital
        • Transaction Structure
        • Type of Entity
        • Financial Management Reports
        • Local Stakeholders
        • Impact Criteria
        • Impact Covenants
      • St. Gallen Carbon Workshop
  • Partners and Organizers
    • Organizers and Contributors
    • Partners
      • @SriEvent
    • Student Groups
      • HESEC - Harvard Extension Student Environmental Club
      • oikos Barcelona
      • oikos Istanbul
      • oikos St. Gallen
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Traditional vs. Sustainable Finance
  • Sustainable Investing is along a Spectrum
  • Want to learn more?

Was this helpful?

Export as PDF

What is Sustainable Finance?

PreviousTable of ContentsNextNewsletter

Last updated 3 years ago

Was this helpful?

Traditional vs. Sustainable Finance

We believe that our global financial system needs to improve. Sustainable Finance tries to achieve this by evolving Traditional Finance.

Traditional Finance focuses on Return and Risk, while Sustainable Finance includes environmental and social issues to measure Impact. We can think of this graphically.

[Insert Graph of Return v Risk (x&y) and Return, Risk, Impact (x,y,&z)]

Why does Traditional Finance fail?

Our current economic models were developed based on a set of false assumptions, such as, natural resources are infinite, and carbon emissions are not harmful. These models did not factor in environmental and social concerns. To this day, labor and capital are the only scarce production factors to optimize in economic production. The problem is that the mindset derived from the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century is no longer tenable.

Where does Sustainable Finance step in?

The world of finance now realizes that we must consider more than just financial performance. We must also consider the impact we have in the form of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors when we analyze companies and investments. The reasons for this change in mindset are many:

  • Sustainability is a new business imperative thanks to its proven value-add

  • Customers are becoming increasingly worried about global issues like climate change

  • Investors realize they can address societal challenges with their decisions

  • Regulation is forcing changes to business models and reporting standards

suggests that a lack of information and knowledge are the main barriers for individuals to engage in sustainable investing. My goal is to provide information in an easily understood way and introduce the concept of sustainable investing to more people.

Sustainable Investing is along a Spectrum

Want to learn more?

Source https://missioninvestors.org/resources/fundamental-terms-and-concepts-impact-investing
Bain & Co.
http://www.sonencapital.com/impact/methodology/

Check out this document

https://littlesustainableinvestor.com/resources/
https://littlesustainableinvestor.com/investing-101/introduction-to-sustainable-investing/
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investing-in-a-better-world-results-of-uk-survey-on-financing-the-sdgs
A survey by the UK government
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OVzBNYeDAYUJHVh3XHqc-Tnkxl1ZfaQe3XJ8Ebf38-0/edit