Build sustainable, responsible portfolios that reflect the values of your retail clients
In The Sustainable Investor: Responsible, Impactful, and Values-Driven Investing Strategies and Practices for Financial Professionals, the Founder and Director of Sustainable Investing at Earth Equity Advisors, Peter Krull, delivers a timely and insightful discussion of sustainable investing and responsible portfolio construction. In the book, you'll learn how to help your retail clients build solutions-based, sustainable, responsible, and impact-driven portfolios that actually reflect their values. You'll also learn how to avoid the greenwashed, “less-bad” investments so commonly found in the products and portfolios of major Wall Street firms seeking to use ESG primarily as a growth vehicle.
The book also offers:
A history of the Socially Responsible Investing movement, including its descendants: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing and Sustainable, Responsible, and Impact (SRI) Investing Why labels like ESG and SRI matter, what they mean, and how they're different An explanation of how major Wall Street firms hijacked the ESG investing philosophy and turned it into a vehicle for asset accumulation
A perfect resource for financial advisors, planners, and other finance professionals, The Sustainable Investor is the ideal roadmap to values-driven investing strategies that meets the needs of retail investors who seek to make a positive difference in the world with their money.
By:
Peter Krull (TU Braunschweig)
Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 231mm,
Width: 163mm,
Spine: 33mm
Weight: 499g
ISBN: 9781394253517
ISBN 10: 1394253516
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 20 October 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword by Ed Begley Jr. xv Introduction: Why I’m Qualified to Write About Sri xxi Section I The Basics 1 Chapter 1 Why You Need to Know About Sri Now 3 Overview 3 Climate Change Hitting Home 5 Income Inequality and Social Justice in the Headlines 11 Corporate Greed and Malfeasance 13 More Information Available 15 Demographic Shifts 16 The Great Wealth Transfer 18 The Changing Economy 19 Conclusion 23 Chapter 2 The History of Sri, Esg, and Whatever the Next Acronym Might Be 25 Overview 25 Faith- Based Investing 26 Peace, Love, and Environmentalism 29 South African Apartheid 30 The Different Iterations of SRI 32 And Speaking of ESG 33 Where We’re Going 35 Chapter 3 Esg: a Set of Metrics 37 Overview 37 What Is ESG? 38 ESG Is About Risk 39 ESG Reporting and Its Advantages 41 Regulation 43 E is for Environment 45 S is for Social 47 G is for Governance 49 Why Transparency Matters 52 ESG is the Future of Investing 53 Chapter 4 Sustainable Investing: Making the World A Better Place 55 Sustainable Investing and the Clean, Resilient Economy 55 What Does Positive, Solutions- Based Investing Mean? 56 What Is Decarbonization? 61 Where Does Banking Fit In? 62 Resilience and Adaptation: The Hidden Key to Sustainable Investing and the Clean Economy 66 The United Nations SDGs 72 Indexing and Sustainable Investing 74 Sustainable Investing Is Growth Investing 75 ESG Investing Is NOT Sustainable Investing 76 Measuring, Reporting, and Transparency 77 Conclusion 86 Chapter 5 Greenwashing 87 Overview 87 Greenwashing and Your Clients 88 Case Study 89 Conclusion 96 Chapter 6 Shareholder Advocacy 97 Overview 97 The Rules 99 Teamwork Is Key 99 The Issues 101 Examples of Shareholder Advocacy Victories 103 Engagement 104 Conclusion 106 Chapter 7 Community, Impact, and Private Investing 107 Overview 107 Community and Impact Investing 108 Private Investments 113 Conclusion 119 Section II Investing 121 Chapter 8 The Institutional Versus Retail Investor Dilemma 123 Overview 123 The Institutional Investor 124 The Retail Investor 126 What Does the Retail Investor Want? 126 Conclusion 127 Chapter 9 Fiduciary Duty and Performance 129 Overview 129 ESG as Fiduciary Duty? 131 SRI or Sustainable, Resilient, and Innovative Investing and Fiduciary Duty 133 Performance 134 Conclusion 137 Chapter 10 Bringing It All Together: Constructing Your First Sri Portfolio 139 Overview 139 The Holdings Make the Difference 140 Divesting from Fossil Fuels Isn’t Just About Risk, It’s About Performance, Too 143 Modern Portfolio Theory Still Applies 145 Targeting Specific Opportunities: Thematics 147 Avoiding the Crossover Trap 153 What About Bonds? 155 Alternatives 158 Asset Allocation 163 Strategic Versus Tactical Management 167 Being an Investment Manager 169 Chapter 11 An Individual Stock Portfolio: How I Run The Green Sage Sustainability Portfolio 171 Overview 172 It’s All In the Universe 173 Portfolio Attributes 180 Portfolio Holdings Examples 183 More About the Universe 187 Data, Data, Data 189 Conclusion 193 Chapter 12 Financial Planning 195 Overview 195 Climate Change and Financial Planning 196 Location, Location, Location 197 Insurance 198 Banking 200 Water and Drought 201 Income Interruptions 201 Inflationary Pressures 203 $500,000 204 Conclusion 205 Chapter 13 Business Retirement Plans 207 Overview 207 Hot Potato 209 What’s the Best Way to Add Sustainable Fund(s) to a Plan? 212 Conclusion 213 Section III For the Investment Advisor 215 Chapter 14 The Sri Practice: How You Can Build Your Own 217 Overview 217 Green or Gray? 219 Start with Why 220 Communicating with Clients and Prospects 222 Working with Values- Based Clients 225 Crafting Your Practice 226 Organizations 229 Independent or Working Within a Larger SRI Firm or a Larger non- SRI Firm? 230 Conclusion 231 Chapter 15 Dealing with the Politics of Sri 233 Overview 233 Woke Investing and Disinformation 234 In Practice 240 Understand the Criticisms 241 Be a Thought Leader 242 Chapter 16 The Wrap- Up 243 Acknowledgments 247 Resources 251 Index 257
PETER KRULL is a Partner and Director of Sustainable Investing at Earth Equity Advisors, a Prime Capital Financial Company. He is the InvestmentNews 2024 ESG/Responsible Investing Advisor of the Year, and the host of Dollars & Change: The Expert’s Guide to Sustainable and Responsible Investing podcast. Peter is a regular speaker at industry conferences as an expert on sustainable investing, including Future Proof and the US SIF Forum. He is a contributor to Kiplinger and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Barron’s, Bloomberg, Investor’s Business Daily, and many others. He has appeared on Reuters TV, Cheddar TV and the Schwab Network. In addition, he has been regularly featured in numerous podcasts and magazines. A native of Western New York, Peter lives in Asheville, NC, with his wife, Dr. Melissa Booth, a scientist, science communicator, and novelist. They drive electric vehicles and live in a solar and battery-powered house.
