Tausi Insider

Sustainable investing has taken its knocks, but that isn’t because the climate crisis has become any less acute. Instead, rising interest rates and a flight to safer short-term opportunities are doing much of the damage, says a top institutional investor. Investments in green technology and sustainable funds took off early in the pandemic as society focused its attentions on environmental vulnerabilities such as climate change. Years of low and stable interest rates helped fuel the boom, said Martin Grosskopf, portfolio manager and director of sustainable investing for AGF Management Ltd. As inflation fears have grown and rates have climbed to two-decade highs, investments in cleantech companies that may not generate cash flow until well into the future have given way to demand for more immediate payouts, Mr. Grosskopf said in an interview. “I would say the most problematic aspect of the last 18 months has simply been interest-rate volatility,” he said. One saving grace for the secto...