“Organic apples are a bit spotty; recycled paper jams the photocopier; SRI funds, like anything with worthy intent must underperform”.

  • For years, conventional investment ‘wisdom’ has assumed that SRI funds will underperform their ‘mainstream’ counterparts.  There is very little evidence that this is true.

“Investment strategies that align themselves with secular trends in the economy and society will outperform the wider market.”

  • For years, SRI investors have argued that SRI funds can outperform their mainstream counterparts and that there is solid investment logic for this.

Although a growing body of academic research and fund performance data supports this latter argument (of SRI investors), many mainstream investors whose support will be needed to extend the uptake of SRI are still sceptical about SRI’s performance credentials.

The ‘proofs’ are outweighed by a number of misconceptions and prejudices.  We address these on the following pages:

  • Misconceptions and prejudices about SRI investment performance
  • Proofs