Scientific Beta

Financial Times: "Analysis by Scientific Beta (...) suggests that 2020 was a “statistical outlier” and, if anything, ESG ETFs have marginally underperformed their traditional peers. “‘Real-world’ ESG performance is unremarkable, with no evidence of sustainable ETFs outperforming,” Felix Goltz, research director at Scientific Beta said. “Quite often it’s suggested there should be some outperformance. [People say] ‘they are better businesses, they are going to generate higher returns’. That’s clearly not something we see in the data.”"

Financial Times 27/09/2023

"(...) Scientific Beta findings contradict view that sustainable strategies can steer investors towards ‘winners’. Exchange traded funds investing on the basis of environmental, social and governance criteria have not beaten the market over the past decade, analysis has shown. The findings come despite widespread claims since 2020 that ESG is able to deliver outperformance by steering investors away from poorly run and heavily polluting companies and towards the “winners” of the future. Analysis by Scientific Beta, an index provider and consultancy linked to the Edhec-Risk Climate Impact Institute, suggests that 2020 was a “statistical outlier” and, if anything, ESG ETFs have marginally underperformed their traditional peers. “‘Real-world’ ESG performance is unremarkable, with no evidence of sustainable ETFs outperforming,” Felix Goltz, research director at Scientific Beta said. “Quite often it’s suggested there should be some outperformance. [People say] ‘they are better businesses, they are going to generate higher returns’. That’s clearly not something we see in the data.” (...)"