SVB Exposes ‘Lazy’ ESG Funds as Hundreds Bet on Doomed Bank (2)

Another market meltdown, and another costly lesson for ESG.

After being caught on the wrong side of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and the Adani scandal, hundreds of ESG fund managers are now dealing with the sting of having misjudged Silicon Valley Bank.

About 915 funds registered under European Union regulations as either “promoting” ESG or declaring it as their “objective” are exposed — directly or indirectly — to the now-collapsed bank, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

For ESG investors, SVB appeared to tick several boxes. The bank was a big lender to renewable energy ...