What are your thoughts on ESG investing?

I think the other thing is very clear definitions on negative externalities and how you're going to differentiate between ESG/non ESG. here are the top holdings in XVV, the s&p esg fund

AAPL - if you believe there's no child labor happening in coal fire factories where iphone components are made, I've got a bridge to sell you

MSFT - not sure

AMZN - yeah, a company that's openly a sweatshop is esg

FB - tell me more about how good this company is for the "social" category. mental health on teens, election meddling, censorship, yep they're checking all the right boxes

GOOG - yeah, I'd say censorship and incentivizing conspicuous consumption based on ad revenue is good for society and the environment, well done

you get the idea. I think the negative externalities are more complex than avoiding tobacco, pornography, offshore drilling in the arctic, etc., but maybe I'm too jaded. I just cannot in good conscience recommend esg investments when I think they fall short on all counts (not saying I'm perfect, but I don't pretend to be helping), cost more, and are substantially the same as a plain old index fund (the top 10 for esg and non esg are IDENTICAL, and that's the majority of your performance)

I think the only companies that can claim to be esg are patagonia, dr bronner, and other companies with high marks from ewg and potentially b corps (though I'm less versed in that). though since there's no way to invest and therefore charge fees on any of those investments, no one's interested

lest I sound too much of a blowhard with no solutions, here's what I do because I do give a shit about the environment. first, eliminate waste in my own life. I don't reup cars, clothes, materials, etc., and when I do buy something new I purge my closets and give to the needy. I try to purchase from companies like patagonia, bronner, and ewg approved brands where possible, favoring local over mega (though I still love my zoom pegasus, sorry), and picking up trash where I see it. leave the world a better place than you found it, even if it's just picking up a coffee cup that's right next to the recepticle that some mouth breather was too lazy to pick up after they missed their jump shot. second, humility. as I wrote in the thread, there's a ton of unknowns so while the precautionary principle holds, I have no idea if what I'm doing is hurting or helping, so a less is more approach and common sense are operative (e.g. I've got no clue about the US's fossil fuel industry decreasing will affect the world one iota, but I can at least buy clothes from places that source sustainable cotton and don't abuse workers, as an example). finally, don't be fat. obesity has many problems and one of them is greenhouse gas emissions. so expel some carbon dioxide while you go for a jog or bike to work, and stop funding the poor labor conditions and environmental disasters that go into making your factory farmed overly processed fast food.