If you want your investments to match your principles should a threat to divest be part of your long-term strategy? In the fourth episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, the story of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, or Calstrs, and why its decision to divest from the US private prisons industry prompted tears and passionate discussion on the board.Joe Rennison, deputy US markets editor, assesses the long-term impact that divestment can have on companies, while Moral Money’s Patrick Temple-West, Attracta Mooney, the FT’s investment correspondent, and Lindsay Frost, a senior reporter at Agenda, an FT publication about the corporate board space, explain why divestment presents a conundrum for investors and whether passive investment funds are really compatible with ESG investing. JPMorgan funds invested in CoreCivic debt after vow to stop financing private prisonsBond funds wrestle with human rights dilemmaDivestment Concerns Creep In for More IndustriesCheck out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here. Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesgReview clips: Calstrs, NBC, Global News, PBS, AP, CBC News, The Guardian, CSPAN  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The story of how a tiny, unknown hedge fund took on a giant of corporate America over climate change - and won. Charlie Penner of Engine No 1 talks about the very public proxy campaign he launched against Exxon Mobil, forcing the oil major to prepare for a future free of fossil fuels. In the third episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, Derek Brower, US energy editor, and Attracta Mooney, the FT’s investment correspondent, reflect on whether the battle between Engine No 1 and Exxon marks the beginning of a new kind of activist investor.Engine No 1, the giant-killing hedge fund, has big plansDWS probes spark fears of greenwashing claims across investment industryCheck out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here. Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesgReview clips: The Sun, Channel 4 News, Euronews, PBS Newshour, GMA, CNN, CNBC, ExxonMobil  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Milton Friedman, the renowned American economist and spiritual mentor of many entrepreneurs, argued that the social responsibility of business was to increase profits. This has been the gospel since the early 1970s, but companies and investors are beginning to rethink the purpose of business. Has the sun really set on the Miltonian era?In the second episode of our special five-part series produced in partnership with the Moral Money team, Leila Abboud, the FT’s Paris correspondent, and Gillian Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large, tell the story of Emmanuel Faber, the former CEO of Danone who embraced environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes - and then was ousted eight years later. Turns out there was more to the story than first meets the eye.The fall from favour of Danone’s purpose-driven chiefCheck out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here. Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesgReview clips: CNBC, Danone, British Pathé, IMAGINE, France 24  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Tariq Fancy joined BlackRock as its first chief investment officer for sustainable investing in 2018, he was convinced that with companies around the world, including the world’s biggest asset manager, embracing environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes, the stage was set to reform capitalism. As a former Wall Street banker, he’d been hired by Blackrock after setting up his own digital learning non-profit group in Canada. But just two years after joining Blackrock, he left his job. So what went wrong?In the first episode of our special five-part series produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, Gillian Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large, and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, the FT’s US business editor, explore the idea that the trillions of dollars that have flowed into ESG investments represent a once-in-a generation shift in the business consensus. Can it be true that ESG investing can address some of the world’s most-pressing problems, including climate change and inequality?  Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here. Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesgReview clips: AP, KPIX CBS, CNBC, CNN, The Telegraph, PayPal  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Behind the Money presents a special 5-part series produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team that goes inside the colossal sums flowing into sustainable investing.Trillions have flooded into funds that have made environmental, social and governance issues, or ESG, central to their investment strategies. As the world begins slowly to recover from the multiple shocks of the pandemic, we take listeners to the center of a loaded debate: Will a shift to more sustainable investments actually help create a more resilient and equitable future - or is ESG just a powerful marketing ploy?Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team on the whole world of socially responsible business, sustainable finance, and ESG trends here.Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.