Biden win boosts potential ESG boom

While the whole world has their eye on America, New Zealand investors are wondering what the global impact of President-elect Biden’s campaign promises for ESG investment will be.

Somebody at the forefront of New Zealand ESG investment is Pathfinder’s CEO, John Berry. Berry says that the biggest difference the Biden presidency will bring is “a change in climate change policy, especially with the US re-joining the Paris accord”.

In saying that Berry is uncertain that the change in leadership will have too much impact on local markets, saying that “New Zealand is affected by global trends anyway. The global trend is a bigger focus on ESG and driving down carbon emissions, and New Zealand is already a part of that trend. But what has happened in the US will certainly accelerate that.

“China as well has set some ambitious targets of carbon neutrality by 2050. What has happened in the US is not necessarily a game changer, but from a NZ perspective it is just going to keep pushing us in that direction.”