Transparency in ESG and the Circular Economy

CHAPTER 5

The Data Behind it All

In the early days, socially responsible, ethical, and values-based investing were considered to be something related to the activist movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and investors assumed that maximum returns would be sacrificed. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) can be traced back to a number of ecclesiastical groups, including the Pioneer Fund that was launched in 1928 and the PAX World Fund, which used negative screening as selection criteria for investments. Customers have also been vocal in boycotting products offered by companies that have been seen as unethical or not socially responsible and have been effective in creating change for decades. In 1941, a consumer boycott was organized against Safeway, ...