Course 6513 lessons

ESG and sustainable investing

A balanced look at investing with environmental, social, and governance factors in mind, including the debates over ratings, greenwashing, and real-world returns.

What ESG actually stands for and means

ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance, three broad categories of non-financial factors investors can look at alongside a company's usual numbers. Environmental covers things like carbon emissions, energy use, and waste. Social covers how a company treats employees, customers, and the communities it operates in. Governance covers how the company itself is run, its board structure, executive pay, and shareholder rights.