“Positive change benefits corporate culture, investor outcomes, and the world at large.”

Linda C. Giuliano
Founder & CEO

Who We Are

Our goal is to create a “brighter world” by partnering with asset managers,  investors and other stakeholders to integrate principles of environmental stewardship, social, and corporate governance (ESG) into strategy, processes, and policies.   

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What Is ESG?

ESG is the management of Environmental, Social and Governance elements that are relevant to an entity.  While governance issues are generally universal, the importance of environmental and social issues will vary based on industry.   How well an entity manages the ESG factors that are material to its business may contribute to its success in mitigating risk and capitalizing on opportunity.   Communicating their approach and relevant data may improve their competitiveness, and their ability to attract talent and customers.

Asset owners increasingly expect asset managers to explicitly account for ESG factors in the investment process.   Some investors seek strategies with ESG-specific goals.   To help you decipher the differences, see our Guide to ESG by clicking on the read more link below.   BrightWorld ESG is available to help you determine which ESG approach is right for your organization.

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Why ESG?

Not too many years ago, there was little discussion on explicitly incorporating ESG considerations in the investment process, but now it has become an imperative for asset managers.  

$30.7

Trillion

Global assets under management in responsible investments reached $30.7 trillion as of year-end 2018 (the last year for which global data is available from GSI Alliance), a 126% increase since 2012

As of 2019, according to a Callan survey, more than 40% of U.S. institutional investors were incorporating ESG principles into their decision-making process

40%

82%

As of 2019: 82% of asset managers in a Russell Investments survey said they had a formalized Responsible Investing Policy in place

Why BrightWorld ESG?

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An ESG Pioneer

Linda Giuliano, our Founder & CEO, has been an ESG professional for more than a decade—long before it became widely adopted in the investment community. Linda brings decades of experience in asset management strategy, transformational innovation, process and product design, and operational leverage.

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Holistic

We view ESG as part of a larger picture for each of our clients, whether they’re evaluating how to incorporate ESG, enhance existing policies, or align their values with their investments. We’ll make ESG one of the many interlocking pieces of their overall strategy.

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Collaborative

BrightWorld ESG recognizes that working closely together with clients and other members of their teams brings their interests and ours in line, and is geared to result in the best outcomes for our clients.

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Customized

Whether you’re focused on one aspect of ESG—such as promoting or understanding proxy voting—or overall strategy, we’ll customize solutions to your needs and goals.

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Promoting Change

Linda embodies the principles of an idealist, tempered by the practicality of a realist. She’s committed to doing well for her clients, while still embracing the goal of doing good. She brings to BrightWorld more than 30 years of experience as a senior-level manager, at AllianceBernstein, a global asset manager, including serving as the firm’s first Head of Responsible Investing. She also held C-level roles in equities and alternative investments, and created the firm’s first internal consulting department. Under Linda’s guidance, AllianceBernstein became an early ESG proponent in the financial-services industry. Linda also serves on various educational Boards, and is often a featured speaker on ESG topics and investment stewardship at industry events.

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How We Can Help

BrightWorld ESG can analyze and help develop ESG strategy as a whole or bring any of its underlying elements in line with the objectives of your firm.   

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Strategy

We’ll work with you in formulating the ESG strategies that best align with your priorities and assist in their implementation.

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ESG Integration

We can easily work with your investment teams to develop an approach to integrate ESG factors that is compatible with your investment process. 

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Stewardship

Proxy voting and ESG engagement are important mechanisms for investors to facilitate positive change. We can evaluate your existing stewardship policies and processes, and identify opportunities to enhance and amplify your voice.

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Product Design

Some investors are seeking specific investment solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, such as climate change and social inequity. Others wish to align their investments with broader values. In either case, we can advise on ESG goals-based portfolio design.

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Policies

ESG is most successful when specific policies or guidelines are clearly articulated. We can help develop or update those policies, aligning them with market standards and your individual corporate philosophy. See Resources for some useful references.

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Reporting

Disclosing information on your ESG efforts is expected—whether it’s responding to existing frameworks such as the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) or the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) or determining what and how often you should report on ESG issues to your investors. We can guide you on these issues; see Resources for some widely-used reporting frameworks.

Promoting Change

Positive change benefits corporate culture, investor outcomes, and the world at large. At BrightWorld ESG we see ourselves as an agent of positive change. We realize that it may not happen easily—though the dramatic changes brought about due to the COVID pandemic and the social unrest throughout 2020 energized the process. But promoting change is only half the story. Implementing it is the other, crucial part. Whether you’re an asset manager or an investor, we’ll work with you in conceiving and prioritizing ESG change-driven strategies, integrating them into your existing framework, and measuring your progress against goals.

What About Performance?
The performance of investment portfolios that incorporate ESG is a nuanced topic, because ESG approaches vary significantly, from assessing the material ESG issues as part of the research process, to pointed strategies with specific ESG goals—and everything in-between [see our What is ESG guide]. In such a broad landscape, ESG performance criteria can’t be compared among different approaches. 

ESG integration should be expected to be part of the investment research process – it is simply a holistic approach to investment research — assessing the relevant risks and opportunities that may impact an investment, and ultimately client outcomes.

For ESG goals-based strategies, the risk and return characteristics of the portfolio should be evaluated along with its ESG goals, to determine if the strategy will meet the investor’s investment and ESG objectives.

Resources

ESG principles, strategies, and reporting frameworks are addressed in many publications from ESG industry organizations, ESG task forces, and other entities. You may find some of the links below helpful. Of course, we’re here to guide you through any of them.   

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Global Reporting Initiative
Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures
Sustainability Accounting 
Standards Board copy
CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) copy
International Corporate 
Governance Network (ICGN)