Alternative Investments : A Sustainable Approach
The latest sign that sustainable and responsible investing (SRI) is increasingly entrenched in the mainstream of the financial world: It now is making major strides in the world of “alternative investing,” according to a new report prepared for the US SIF Foundation by the Center for Social Philanthropy at the Tellus Institute. The US SIF Foundation is affiliated with US SIF – The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.
According to “Sustainability Trends in Alternative Investments in the United States,” $80.9 billion was invested in 375 alternative investment funds incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria at the outset of 2011, reflecting a 15.9-percent growth in combined assets since the beginning of 2010, when 346 alternative funds managed a combined total of $69.8 million.
The alternative investment funds tracked in the report span the asset classes of private equity and venture capital funds, property investment funds and hedge funds, and they utilize a broad range of approaches to ESG criteria and themes.
