Scientific Beta

The Business Times: "INVESTING based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors has become a popular means of pursuing outperformance. But recent research from Scientific Beta, an independent index provider specialising in smart beta strategies, suggests that such outperformance may be incidental. Scientific Beta research director, Felix Goltz, told The Business Times in an interview: "ESG information doesn't actually add any outperformance." Rather, what makes a difference has tended to be the quality of the stock and the greater attention investors have paid to ESG in recent years."

The Business Times 10/06/2021

"(...) INVESTING based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors has become a popular means of pursuing outperformance. But recent research from Scientific Beta, an independent index provider specialising in smart beta strategies, suggests that such outperformance may be incidental. Scientific Beta research director, Felix Goltz, told The Business Times in an interview: "ESG information doesn't actually add any outperformance." Rather, what makes a difference has tended to be the quality of the stock and the greater attention investors have paid to ESG in recent years. Dr. Goltz was one of the authors of the recent paper, "Honey, I shrunk the ES alpha", which studied the performance of various ESG strategies.(...)"