Opening at SOCAP this year was The CAPROCK Groups’ Matthew Weatherley-White who explored, through powerful anecdote, the intersection of money and meaning, and the power of the human psyche.
Recalling a meeting with an asset manager who had put a client in an ESG fund that outperformed non-ESG peer funds, Matthew inquired as to why the manager hadn’t put more clients in the ESG fund given such superior performance. The asset manager responded that he only put clients in the ESG fund if they selected to “opt in”.
This interaction resulted in a significant Ah Ha Moment for Matthew, and inevitably, led him to the question he poses in this incredible 18-minute clip: What if we switched our default position on ESG investing from “opt out” to “opt in,” so rather than people selecting to participate in ESG funds, those who don’t want to partake have to make the conscious decision to “opt out”?
Drawing from real-world examples around global organ donation practices, Matthew makes the compelling case that if we changed our paradigm – our default setting – to one that incorporates ESG, we’d be looking at a revolutionary shift in the capital markets.
A worthwhile clip, you can watch the entire video here.