Decades before Wall Street jumped on the ESG bandwagon, Amy Domini was an early and unwavering believer in the value of considering environmental, social, and governance issues in the investment process.
Her interest in sustainable investing took root when she was a stockbroker in the late 1970s. “I’d call clients with a stock tip and be startled when they would get mad and say, ‘I’ll never buy a company that makes weapons or does business with South Africa,’ ” says Domini, who started asking about such preferences on new client questionnaires.
In 1984, she co-authored the book Ethical Investing. In 1990, she co-founded KLD Research & Analytics with Peter Kinder and Steven Lydenberg, created the Domini 400 Social Index, and, soon after, launched a passive U.S. equity fund pegged to the index. They eventually sold the firm and its flagship index, which is now owned by MSCI, and converted the fund to an active strategy, the $1.1 billion Domini Impact Equity fund (ticker: DSEPX).
Barron’s
By Sarah Max
January 7, 2022