Tuesday 12 October 2021

The Sussexes Enter Sustainable Investing Space as Impact Partners

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's latest partnership will see the couple delve into the world of sustainable investing. Speaking to the New York Times DealBook, Harry and Meghan confirmed they are working with Ethic, a company endeavouring for a future where all investing is sustainable investing. Meghan revealed they learned about their work through friends. Meghan began by telling DealBook: "The world I come from, you don’t talk about investing, right? You don’t have the luxury to invest. That sounds so fancy.” Meghan added, “My husband has been saying for years, ‘Gosh, don’t you wish there was a place where if your values were aligned like this, you could put your money to that same sort of thing?'" Harry spoke of the potential for young people: "You already have the younger generation voting with their dollars and their pounds, you know, all over the world when it comes to brands they select and choose from."

Embed from Getty Images

More from the DealBook article:

'Ethic has $1.3 billion under management and creates separately managed accounts to invest in social responsibility themes.

The couple could attract more attention to sustainable investing. Harry and Meghan can make E.S.G. investing part of pop culture in a way that, say, BlackRock’s Larry Fink can’t.'

In a statement, Ethic shared their excitement about the partnership: "Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, share a lot of values with us, and we suspect, with many of you as well." Praising the couple's efforts on climate, gender equity, health, racial justice, human rights, and strengthening democracy, they were not only impressed by their varied commitments, but the understanding they are all "inherently connected". Ethic revealed Harry and Meghan became investors earlier this year and also have investments managed by the company.

Founders Doug, Jay and Johny added: 

'At Ethic, we don’t shy away from taking on big challenges. Since our founding more than five years ago, we’ve strived to help redefine the fundamental nature of the relationship between corporations and the world around them. Our efforts to make capital markets a powerful force for good involve having hard conversations, putting real action behind our words, and not being afraid to do things a bit differently.

Now they (Harry & Meghan) want to shine a light on how we can all impact the causes that affect our communities, bring transparency into how the corporate world sets the tone and shapes outcomes for everyday families, and believe that more people should have a seat at the table when it comes to making progress.

With their partnership, our shared vision for a world in which all investing is sustainable investing can reach many millions around the globe.

After all, we are all investors. Whether or not you have an investment portfolio today, you still make conscious decisions each and every day about where you choose to invest your time, money and energy. We all have the opportunity to invest in our communities—and to align our values with our actions. And that’s crucial because it will take all of us, working as a community, to shape a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future.

Working together, we hope to inform, educate and inspire widespread action around some of the most significant and defining issues of our time.

While these issues are global, our choices—and our values—are often personal. We view this partnership as an incredible opportunity to inspire even more people to align their individual values with their actions.

If this is your first time visiting us, welcome! We’re so happy that you’ve joined our community and taken this step toward living your values. We founded Ethic because we believe in the power of informed, independent choice to drive material positive change in our world. And we can’t wait to help you do just that.' 

I was especially interested to read a thoughtful piece on the website about Ethic's approach to racial justice in public equity investing:

'We’ve been thinking about these issues through the lens of public equity impact investing for quite some time, working thoughtfully to develop strategies designed to promote a racially equitable society. To that end, Ethic evaluates companies on about 35 different factors that contribute—directly or indirectly—to racial justice, looking specifically at their impact on workers, customers, and the public at large. For those seeking guidance in how they might advance racial justice through their portfolio, we’re highlighting several key areas, some of which are often overlooked when it comes to their profound impact on communities of color.

Perhaps the most intuitive example is a company’s policies around workplace diversity and inclusion: e.g. anti-discrimination efforts, whistleblower protections, equitable benefits, and targets around increasing diversity. Investors should consider whether companies in their portfolio have officially implemented these sorts of policies, as well as the degree to which companies have adopted formalized targets around them. Companies might pay lip service to equitable workplace practices, but how are they tracking their progress toward achieving meaningful targets?'

DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin believes the couple's participation will bring a lot more attention to Ethic and sustainable investing.

A statement published on Archewell read:

'When we invest in each other we change the world…

Be it through the investment of time (as with mentoring), investment in community (as with volunteering), or the investment of funds (for those who have the means to), our choices—of how and where we put our energy—define us as a global community. 

We believe it’s time for more people to have a seat at the table when decisions are made that impact everyone. We want to rethink the nature of investing to help solve the global issues we all face. 

This is one of the ways we put our values in action.'


Since we last chatted, it's been confirmed Prince Harry will return to New York on 10 November to honour veterans and their families at the inaugural Intrepid Valour Awards. It comes the day before Remembrance Day, known as Veterans Day in the US. It's very much an extension of the work he's been doing and something we're going to continue to see expanded upon in the States. The museum said: "The Intrepid Museum’s Salute to Freedom gala recognises extraordinary leadership and honors the brave men and women who serve in defense of our nation." The museum's president Susan Marenoff-Zausner added: "We are so grateful to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, for honouring and amplifying the stories of these heroes and helping to raise awareness for mental health support for our men and women in uniform." It should be a very special evening.

Finally, there's a great deal of speculation and rumour regarding Lilibet's christening. A spokeswoman for Harry and Meghan confirmed plans are still being finalised, adding claims to the contrary are "merely speculation". I'm sure we'll hear more in due course.

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for your great coverage, Charlotte. Ethic is so completely in line with Harry and Meghan's vision and passion. What a great partnership -- a win for both and for the wider world. Any organization lucky enough to partner with Harry and Meghan greatly increases their coverage and popularity.

    I will always admire Harry's undying dedication to veterans.

    R

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  2. I can't believe you can put something together so quickly, Charlotte.

    This sounds right up their alley, and I'm glad to see them walking the talk.

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  3. Fascinating; thank you for bringing this information. And I realize that I trust them -- I trust their good intentions and Meghan's mind, so if she had a beauty line, I would believe it was a good product. Same with this.

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  4. Interesting venture - thanks Charlotte!
    -op

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  5. I'm hoping that Lilibet can have a christening that is worthy of her. My grandfather never had anything to do with me, meaning he never saw me, not once, because he didn't like my father, his only child. Lilibet (and I) deserves lovely photos like Archie has.

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  6. Well done Harry & Meghan. This is excellent news Charlotte. Thank you

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  7. Younger people have to start investing early, and find sustainable investments, so fink you Sussexes for stating that trend.

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    1. Yes, because young people have lots of money to invest…

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  8. This remind me of jobbo,one of the royal reporters questioning how the Sussex will make it outside of the royal family, forgetting that both have a great mind of their own...... God bless them(harry and Meghan)

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  9. Glad to see Harry’s continuing work with vets. I was surprised at how vindictive the royal family was toward Harry over the wreath thing. It really reveals the depth of animosity and pettiness toward Harry and his family. It doesn’t speak well toward Lilbeth’s acceptance by Harry’s family either as there were no attempts by the Palace to quell the made up outrage over their daughter’s name.

    As to green investments, it’s much needed, but the truth is as we will see at the UN COP26 meeting in Glasgow, it will be more green washing by the big players— governments, big banks and corporations. You won’t read big banks like JP Morgan, nations, corporations or the royal family calling for an end to subsidies for big fossil, or end to cryptocurrency as JP Morgan just opened itself up for bitcoin investment funds, an area Facebook would like to rule over. Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies is toxic to the environment and consumes vast amount of energy and pollutes. Cryptocurrency provides cover for criminal enterprises and tax dodgers. You certainly won’t see this lot calling for an end to tax dodging by washing money overseas and in friendly tax havens or ending tax exemptions -something governments, the royal family with the Queen’s consent rule, and corporations and billionaires are happy to exploit.

    Think of the lost of trillions of tax dollars as a result. Trillions that could go to leveling up communities, building green infrastructures and technology and helping vulnerable and poor communities. Instead governments and corporations needing money squeeze wage earners instead. You’ll see Charles urging actions, not words. The problem is emblematic with having people like Charles and William (and even Harry) be the voice for conservation and net zero is that the Royal Family is one of the worst when it comes to having a massive footprint. No gimmicky fancy car running on wine and cheese by products or scolding rich men over space tourism is going to win minds and hearts of young people here.

    The royals should stop trying to lead. They can act instead. Rewild their massive royal acreages with forest and wetlands again since these estates have very low tree coverage. The Queen and Charles can start with something as doable and simple as plant many, many trees and stop driven grouse shooting on their estates. Actions, not words indeed. -media watcher

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    1. Very well said. Would you not invest with Ethic?

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    2. Lol. My investment portfolio is teeny tiny.

      ESG investing is often opaque and difficult to verify. There’s a lot of green washing these days. For example, Exxon has gotten a green rating. Exxon isn’t about to dump fossil fuel, but it recognizes, like big tobacco and Purdue Pharma, the need to change, in this case diversifies into green energy investment, R&D etc. Incentives like tax breaks, government subsidies and good PR sweeten the pot. How significant is that? Not much because the bottom line is shareholders profit. This isn’t about the greater good, but individual good. And that’s the rub.

      Can I also just say, I dislike the name “Ethic” given that Trump has just announced his new social media platform, “Truth”. Guess what “Pravda” means? It just invites the likes of James O’Keefe, founder of Veritas, another oxymoron, to target.

      Truthfully, infrastructure restructuring and climate change mitigation take united governments and the will of the people to make the real difference. Not rich, famous people. Not ESG investing. Not royals with their Earthshot prizes or sports car that runs on dairy and alcohol by products. These things are more gimmick and do more harm than good because they shift focus and pressure away from governments to form a committed, active global policies. The world can’t afford to be distracted right now.

      We’ve seen unfortunately how geopolitics, domestic politics and greed successfully fractured attempts to form a unify front to combat a global pandemic. The people who willfully and successfully sabotaged any chance of a coherent covid mitigation plan are the same people in power today. THAT bodes ill for any real chance to combat climate change. I’m afraid the world dithers and it’ll be too late. - media watcher



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  10. A word of caution perhaps. Hedge fund investing whether ESG companies or not is rather risky. Can go bust if there is a financial crisis. Does Prince Harry and Meghan really want to be impact partners for such a company.

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