LONDON, July 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals outline the challenges that must be overcome by 2030 if we're to end poverty, prevent social injustice and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. To achieve these goals, it's estimated that we need $2.5trn in financing per year. Although this enormous funding gap should be cause for alarm, from another perspective, it represents an exciting opportunity to invest in companies that are putting sustainability first.
"One of the misconceptions surrounding sustainable investing is the view that there is a trade-off between returns and doing the right thing," Felix Brill, Chief Investment Officer at VP Bank Group, explained in an article for World Finance magazine. "This myth has been debunked by many studies. A meta-analysis of 2,000 studies published in the Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investment found that, in 90 percent of cases, integrating ESG led to the same level of performance or outperformance of the benchmark."
According to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, sustainable investing grew 34 percent between 2016 and 2018 to reach $30.7trn. At the same time, increasing numbers of investors and ratings agencies have committed to integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment decisions.
VP Bank believes that banks have a critical role to play in promoting sustainable finance. That's why it launched the Investing for Change initiative, which offers clients sustainable solutions by integrating ESG issues into the investment process. In this way, the bank aims to create a net positive impact through its product offering.
VP Bank has also embedded its sustainability plan into its overall business strategy. It unveiled its sustainability goals in March 2020 after an extensive shareholder engagement process. It's thanks to VP Bank's unique ownership structure, which consists of three long-term anchor shareholders, that the bank has been able to push sustainability to the top of its corporate agenda.
To find out more about VP Bank, check out an exclusive article in the latest edition of World Finance, available in print, on tablet and online now.
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