Ethics Series — The Ethics of Investing

Social or responsible investing is one of the most pronounced trends in the investment/financial industry. Ethical investing is all about aligning your personal moral compass with equity investments either in projects or in your investment portfolio. 

It is not a new concept. Disinvestment campaigns in the 1980s were aimed at South Africa in the era of apartheid and many investors for a generation have refused to invest in tobacco products. But starting in the 2000s, the concept really took off. 

The UN Compact in 2005 bringing together large institutions to develop Principles for Responsible Investments which in turn developed ESG metrics and frameworks around the Environment, Society and Governance to add to the usual financial criteria of profit and return on investment. From 63 companies signing on in 2005, there are more than 3600 today in 83 countries and it is estimated that in Canada in 2020 62% of Canadian assets (or over 3 trillion dollars) are managed under an ESG framework.

But within this good news story many questions and controversies remain. It is all right to invest ethically but what specific ethical frame are we talking about? 

The E in ESG has led many to demand disinvestment from fossil fuels but the S in social equity has many Indigenous nations interested in pipelines and natural resources. Others see the ESG designation as a clever PR ploy with companies agreeing to sign compacts, but not really changing behaviours in areas like manufacturing abroad to exploit labour. Canadian universities have seen intense debates about disinvestment from fossil fuels, but Alberta and Saskatchewan are dependent on such resources to produce wealth. One person’s ethics is another person’s poverty.

Panellists:

• Tom Axworthy — Massey Senior Fellow and Public Policy Program Chair (moderator)
• Mark Podlasly — Recent chair of the Indigenous Investment Conference and an expert on Indigenous equity Investment,
• Mary Anne Chambers — Finance and Banking Expert, Former Ontario Gov't Minister
• Tim Nash — CEO of Good Investing

Agenda

This event will be accessible online only.

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