Recently, I was engaged in a lively discussion about why raising awareness of diversity and inclusion issues was important — both of us were adamant that we were right, with one of us arguing that increased levels of diversity and inclusion is a key business driver and the other that it is simply just the “right thing to do”, we were stewards for the future after all. In the end, we agreed that it was most likely a combination of both factors and more.

To me, this discussion is reflective of a wider inflection point within the asset management industry where environmental social and governance issues are the 'topic du jour’. The European Commission recently announced proposals to develop frameworks to facilitate sustainable investment, including the use of disclosures and specific ESG benchmarks. But, as an individual, the question I keep coming back to is — how will these initiatives bring about real and actual change?