It was not until the 1950s, however, that investment policies began to apply a strategy of “negative screening<\/em>“, under which activities such as tobacco and alcohol production were excluded.<\/p>\n In the decades that followed, during events such as the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa, these policies were updated to exclude from portfolios companies linked to arms production and military supply, along with countries under totalitarian regimes.<\/p>\n As the concept of socially responsible investment developed, the exclusion of particular activities gave way to the inclusion of exemplary ones, under the heading of “positive screening<\/em>“.<\/p>\n Over the past thirty years there have been significant moves towards a more sustainable world (Rio 1992, Kyoto 1997 and Paris 2015). As a result, the non-financial variables known as ESG \u2014 environmental, social and governance \u2014 have moved to the centre of major investors’ attention.<\/p>\n The crisis produced by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, a black swan event in Nassim Taleb’s sense (The Black Swan<\/em>, 2007), marked a turning point for the economy and for society. For Taleb, such an event is one that appears improbable in advance, for which there is no evidence that it will occur, and which therefore takes analysts and the market by surprise \u2014 while affecting the world economy or world politics significantly.<\/p>\n The crisis brought high volatility to the financial markets, with substantial falls in the principal markets and listed securities. There is no doubt it will leave a deep residue, with greater uncertainty and uneven returns depending on the monetary policies applied and on the pace of recovery in public health.<\/p>\n The performance of sustainable indices relative to others has, on the whole, been rather positive. “The data are encouraging,” says the fund manager Schroders, one of the largest in the world. BofA reports that the top 20% of stocks by ESG rating outperformed the US market by more than five percentage points during the recent correction.<\/p>\n In short, investments made under ESG criteria show greater resilience and better risk management. This follows from a deeper study of the companies concerned, in which financial criteria such as return and risk are not the only measures: non-financial criteria are weighed just as heavily \u2014 carbon footprint, climate change, impact on the biosphere, working conditions, diversity, workplace equality, governance structure, business ethics. The result is a far more thorough understanding of the company.<\/p>\n Moments like the present one bring the value of that risk-management component into sharp relief, and fund managers have accordingly accelerated their commitment to sustainable investment. Demand for products of this kind is expected to grow over the coming months, on the strength of their recent performance.<\/p>\n COVID-19 has shown that ESG criteria in financial investment matter more than ever, and that the situation represents a unique opportunity to innovate and to create value for society.<\/p>\nVolatility in the financial markets<\/h3>\n
Investing under ESG criteria<\/h3>\n
![\"socially](\"https:\/\/cmi.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/inversiones.png.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"socially](\"https:\/\/cmi.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2.png.webp\")
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