Scientific Beta

Seeking Alpha: "However, fresh analysis by Scientific Beta, a "smart beta" index provider linked to the Edhec Research Institute, a French academic think-tank, disputes the claims that ESG funds have tended to outperform the wider market, or, in industry jargon, generate "alpha"... Scientific Beta analyzed 24 ESG strategies that have been shown to outperform in other academic papers."

Seeking Alpha 12/05/2021

"(...) However, fresh analysis by Scientific Beta, a "smart beta" index provider linked to the Edhec Research Institute, a French academic think-tank, disputes the claims that ESG funds have tended to outperform the wider market, or, in industry jargon, generate "alpha"... Scientific Beta analyzed 24 ESG strategies that have been shown to outperform in other academic papers. It did find evidence that ESG funds have tended to outperform, with ESG leaders typically beating ESG laggards by almost 3 percentage points a year... However, in both the US and other developed markets, it found that three-quarters of the outperformance is due to "quality" metrics, such as high profitability and conservative investment... "Despite relying on the analysis of non-financial information by hundreds of ESG analysts, ESG strategies perform like simple quality strategies mechanically constructed from accounting ratios," the paper said. (...)"