Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Effects Of Esg Investing On Returns, Hank De Roover

Senior Honors Theses

Countless researchers have sought to find out if there is a positive correlation between Environmental, Societal, and Governance (ESG) investing and returns that beat the market over the past few decades. To analyze what ESG investing is, the history of the practice, and if there can be any conclusion drawn between ESG investing and returns. A deeper understanding of what goes into returns, including modern portfolio theory, will uncover that ESG securities cannot be efficiently placed on the efficient frontier. Risk associated with ESG stocks cannot only be tied directly to beta, but also to external qualitative forces that make …