Nobody can establish who first used the phrase 'evidence-based investing', and no regulator defines it. Robin Powell, who was given the name by Larry Swedroe in 2015 and is sometimes wrongly credited with coining it, sets out what it actually means: four tests of what counts as evidence, borrowed from a medical parallel that hit the same crisis twelve years ago. Including where he goes further than a global tracker, and why he holds that position less firmly than he used to.
Buy the clean companies, avoid the dirty ones, and emissions fall. That is the promise almost every sustainable fund rests on. New calibrations from Samuel Hartzmark of Boston College and Kelly Shue of Yale suggest the version of ESG divestment that leaves a high-emitting industry altogether can push global emissions up, while staying inside the industry and holding the cleanest companies in it brings them down. On a fund factsheet, the two look identical.
Robin Powell
Jul 2410 min read
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