Profit vs. Progress

The point of the book is to explode the myth that "sustainable" funds are making the world better, even while they generate market-rate returns. A huge industry (about $30 trillion) has grown up around this belief, and I want the reader to see it for what it is — an illusion.

The reality is that sustainable (also called "socially responsible") investing mostly supports the status quo. Corporations are happy to receive sustainable investments, but they don’t let it change their course. They have one objective: produce value for shareholders. But their blind pursuit of profit often runs counter to the greater needs of people and the planet.

There is a better way. I show in the book that at critical points in our history — think Progressive Era or New Deal — the people demanded change in the way business impacted society, and the lawmakers responded. We are overdue for another period of reform.

Income inequality is the highest it has ever been. Corporate giants resemble the "trusts" of a century ago, and, like them, need to be busted. Emissions from fossil fuels are poisoning the climate. We can solve these problems, if we have the will.

Sustainable investing is not just a dream factory, it is harmful. It perpetuates social and environmental crises by distracting our attention from the real levers of social change. We can change the rules of the game to make it more fair, without eroding economic freedom and competitive markets. But we have to start by recognizing that this emperor has no clothes.