Donald Trump's surprising ascent to president of the United States has brought many unexpected effects to the financial markets. Ironically, one has been a rapid increase in interest and adoption of impact investing and other types of values-based investing.
So while I would definitely wager that most SRI professionals were disappointed that Trump won, the silver lining has been that it's inspired many investors to align their money with their values. Ironically, the president has been good for the environment.SEC official wants index funds to disclose their ESG activitiesVarious industry studies show that most individual investors are interested in sustainable investing.
"After Trump won, I had a meeting with one of my clients, a thoughtful and politically informed person; she was in shock at Trump's win," Curtis said."During our meeting, my client told me she couldn't stand the thought of her money being invested in companies whose CEOs were Trump supporters.
At Impact Investors, an advisory firm focused exclusively on sustainable and impact investing strategies, advisors reported an increased interest in values aligned investing from existing clients after Trump was elected president. The advisors at Impact said they had clients reach out within weeks of the election, asking that the firm screen out any companies that Trump profits from. Additionally, they added that some clients recently requested not to own any company involved in building the border wall.