The New Old Thing

ESG is suddenly in the news, as the SEC takes aim at issuers' disclosures around climate, and at advisors who are creating all kinds of ESG-flavored funds. Meanwhile, the amount of investable dollars committed to ESG investing has soared from about $2 trillion ten years ago to $20 trillion and climbing. But how "new" is ESG, anyway? Would you believe it's 90 years old?

In this article from Traders' Magazine, GIX CEO Dan Labovitz digs into a forgotten bit of ESG history, and the influence of a young law professor at Columbia Law School in 1932 who articulated one of the earliest legal justifications for corporate social responsibility.