Investors don’t have to choose between making a profit and making a difference. 

At Raymond James, you have access to a suite of values-based investing options that allow you to align your financial future with your personal values.

Decades ago, exclusionary screening emerged as a way for investors to opt out of contributing to industries they found objectionable, such as tobacco, adult entertainment, or nuclear weapons. Emerging now as the logical next step is sustainable investing, a much sought-after strategy that allows investors not only to rule out certain companies, but to purposefully invest in those making a positive impact in the world.

Please let us know if you would like to talk further about screening out or supporting any of the below areas:

Faith screens

  • Adult entertainment
  • Tobacco/alcohol
  • Embryonic stem cell research
  • Contraceptives and abortion

Environmental Screens

  • Climate change
  • Nuclear power
  • Environmental policies
  • Fines and regulatory actions

Social Screens

  • Workplace diversity
  • Human rights
  • Animal testing
  • Product and workplace safety

Governance Screens

  • Board composition
  • Audit and accounting
  • Corporate transparency
  • Board independence

Art of a plant growing from dirt

Growing Interest

  • $8.7 trillion Sustainable investing assets in the United States more than doubled from 2012 to the start of 2016.
  • $1 in every $5 Assets under management using sustainable, responsible and impact strategies accounted for more than one out of every five dollars under professional management in the United States in 2016.
  • 40% Increase in number of funds incorporating ESG criteria from 2012 to 2016.

Source: US. SIF Foundation, Report on U.S. Sustainable, Responsible and Impact investing Trends, 2014 and 2016.
*This investment strategy may result in investment returns that may be lower or higher than if decisions were based solely on investment considerations and could result in either underpeIfor-mance or outperformance of the market as a whole.


Different Approaches to Sustainable Investing

While there is a common theme of pursuing a greater purpose there is much variety within sustainable investment strategies, particularly in how they are implemented. Implementation generally takes the form of one or more of the following approaches:

A child drinking water from a spigot.

Exclusionary Screening

  • Viewed as the original approach to “responsible" investing
  • Also known as socially responsible investing or negative screening
  • Excludes individual companies or entire industries from portfolios if their activities conflict with an investor's values, such as fossil-fuels, gambling or alcohol
  • Limits investable universe, which could impact diversification

Impact Investing2

  • Aims to have a social or environmental impact alongside financial return, with a focus on intentionality and measurement of impact
  • Ranges from grant support to private equity: liquidity risk and return target can vary dramatically
  • Most common products are funds invested in private equity and venture capital
  • Accredited investors and funds are the leaders in impact investment by asset level

Integration

  • Combines ESG criteria with traditional financial considerations
  • Gaining momentum as portfolio managers consider ESG themes in their decision-making process
  • Sometimes implemented as a best-in-class approach by identifying and investing in companies that are the highest ESG performers within a sector or industry group
  • A study conducted by the CFA Institute cites integration is the most commonly used method'

Other dimensions

  • Thematic investing — focuses on a specific ESG theme, and structures a portfolio around companies or industries that support that theme
  • Shareholder engagement (activism) - actively engages with a company, directly working with management or exercising shareholder rights to effect change

1CFA Institute, "ESG Issues in Investing: Investors Debunk the Myths." 2015. 
2Global Impact Investing Network, "What You Need to Know About Impact Investing," 
https://thegiin.org/impact-investing/need-to-know/#s2