For anyone who has yet to watch Derek Sivers’ TED talk on ‘how to start a movement’, I highly recommend it[i]. A lone dancer at a music festival dances on a hill, seemingly oblivious to the sardonic glances of fellow festival goers. Before long though, the lone dancer has become a leader at the heart of a whirling mass of ecstatic dancers. As Mr. Sivers points out in his presentation, ‘a leader needs the guts to stand out and be ridiculed.’ Read more …
Do individuals make history? Or are larger forces at work, sometimes crystalising through personalities, but sometimes not? Read more …
The ESG ‘stampede’
The WHEB team has a fifteen-year track record in sustainable investing. Looking back over this period, we can say that this is undoubtedly the most exciting period in this history. We say this with the scars still-fresh from fighting what was, until very recently, a lonely battle. Many of our clients have also been on this journey and are now enjoying what we’ve been calling the ‘ESG stampede’. Read more …
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”[1]
Education has always been one of WHEB’s nine investment themes. George Lucas, the filmmaker, called education ‘the single most important job of the human race’. It is central to the improvement of the human condition and as such, sits at the heart of the concept of sustainable development. Read more …
In the first half of 2020, investors were piling money into hydrogen-linked stocks. During the second quarter, the stock price of hydrogen-powered car company Nikola shot up 535%. Other shares related to the technology were also very strong. Read more …
It was the American actor William Redfield playing Dale Harding in the Oscar-winning film ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest who put it best. ‘This world… belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak.[i]’
This article was co-authored by Thora Frost, Senior Client Manager, Carbon Trust and Seb Beloe, Partner-Head of Research, WHEB
The impact investment market has grown rapidly in recent years as investors increasingly allocate capital on the basis of both potential financial returns and the intention to generate positive societal and environmental impacts. Read more …
On 5th July the UK newspapers The Times and Sunday Times broke several stories based on undercover investigations into the fast fashion retailer Boohoo. The stories alleged that workers were making garments for Boohoo for as little as £3.50 an hour (barely a third of the legal minimum wage)[i]. The investigation also alleged that manufacturing continued during the local lockdown rules to control the spread of COVID-19 and that no additional hygiene or social distancing measures were in place. Read more …
Information technology and sustainability both represent major economic transformations. Sometimes linked, but by no means always. Read more …
If the last few months have shown us anything, it is that the role of companies in addressing social and environmental issues is now an accepted – even expected – part of running a business. Read more …