What the ‘Streisand Effect’ has to with climate investing

Anti-ESG backlash is actually increasing investor interest.

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(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Last year was the third in a row in which climate-focused funds significantly lagged those that invest in fossil fuel companies.

It wasn’t close: The average climate-focused fund lagged the average fossil fuel fund by more than eight percentage points — as you can see from the accompanying chart. Perhaps the only solace climate-friendly investors can find in the 2023 results is that climate-focused funds didn’t do even worse. The margin by which they lagged fossil fuel funds in 2022 was a huge 67 percentage points; in 2021 they lagged by 58 percentage points.