ESG

For fixed-income investors, understanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors – as they are financially material to performance – has proven to be critical in assessing an issuer’s fundamental quality.

Last week’s wellbeing budget in New Zealand was based on the Livings Standards Framework (LSF), a set of wellbeing measures that include cultural identity, environment, income and consumption, and social connections. But these provide no overall index of the nation’s performance.