Blackrock and Goldman Sachs Are Piling Into This $30 Trillion Opportunity
The $250 billion that has poured into ESG index funds as of August 2020 represents a 733% increase in just two years, and what that rapidly growing big money is saying is this: bad behavior, regulatory sins, and careless carbon footprints aren’t just risky business, they’re underpinning underperformance.
Big banks themselves have been among the worst offenders. Look no further than the Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) scandals. Now, even the Big Banks are fleeing these high-risk temptations and desperately searching for places to park their clients’ money - places where it will face less risk and have a better chance of outperforming the market.
That’s ESG - environmental, social and governance investing, also referred to more loosely as “impact investing” or “sustainable investing”.
Two companies, one small and just emerging as a known name across North America, and the other, large and savvy enough to have become the new King of Wall Street, stand out as pioneers who crossed the ESG finish line first: BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Canadian startup Facedrive (TSXV.FD).
BlackRock is the hedge fund extraordinaire with nearly $7 trillion in assets under management, and it was the first of its kind to grasp and run with the ESG trend before anyone else caught on. Now, it’s a megatrend, and that makes BlackRock the biggest thing on Wall Street.
Facedrive (TSX:FD.V; OTCMKTS:FDVRF) is an entire ESG tech ecosystem like nothing anyone has ever seen. This innovative startup that emerged from Canada’s “Silicon Valley” has been disrupting everything from ride-sharing and food and pharma delivery to esports, major league sports, social distancing entertainment, COVID contact-tracing, and, most recently, electric vehicle subscription services. And it’s even got its own celebrity co-branded line of clothing (think: Will Smith’s Bel Air Athletics) for all-encompassing branding.
It’s a “people-and-planet-first” company that plans to profit nicely on its principles.
That’s exactly what the ESG megatrend dictates: Going forward, the biggest money, the real money, will be made by companies who understand the true nature of risk, whether it comes in the form of climate change, a global pandemic, or simply good governance and corporate responsibility.
Technology: The Lucrative 5th Dimension of ESG
ESG investing isn’t just about going green. It isn’t just about voting with a conscience. It goes far beyond this, and into a 5th dimension. That dimension is exactly where big investors are scrambling to find more places to park their money.
What is the 5th dimension? Best described by Forbes Business Councilman Walter Schindler, the 5th Dimension of ESG is revolutionary: It’s where we “achieve radical efficiency, faster results, and quantum impact”. It’s the epiphany that technology is every industry, and every industry is technology. Technology is ESG.
https://www.zerohedge.com/blackrock-goldman-sachs-piling-into-this-30-trillion-opportunity