This has been an area of increased focus, with some studies suggesting a positive relationship between a company’s financial and ESG performances. Moreover, some ESG indices have recently outperformed their parent (non-ESG) indices, which is partly due to the sector biases that occur naturally from exclusions, e.g. reduced weighting in energy, but could also be attributed to investors’ placing a “premium” on companies that are successfully managing ESG risks. Whether or not ESG on its own can drive performance, investors can now find ETFs that have both ESG and financial objectives. You can choose between ESG ETFs that aim for similar returns as the parent index (with meaningful ESG improvement) or that have a greater tolerance for tracking error (with much more ESG improvement).