Super ESG options can outperformBY JAMIE WILLIAMSON | TUESDAY, 13 NOV 2018 12:13PMThe average ESG investment option offered by Australia's superannuation funds outperformed the average MySuper default product in the 12 months to 30 September. Related News |
Editor's Choice
Diversa board backs chief executive pay rise, bonus amid First Guardian fallout
|Diversa Trustees' board paid chief executive Andrew Peterson a bonus of $770,000 and increased his salary at the height of the First Guardian collapse, an inquiry heard, doubling down on its confidence in his leadership and suitability to lead the business.
Active equity managers lag benchmarks: SPIVA
|Most active equity managers in Australia underperformed their benchmarks in the first half of 2026, despite market conditions that appeared supportive of stock picking, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices' latest SPIVA Australia Scorecard.
CareSuper earns place among pension fund giants, ART breaks into top 20
|Australian Retirement Trust (ART) has cracked the top 20 ranking of the world's largest pension funds, while CareSuper has debuted on WTW's annual Global Top 300 Pension Funds report.
MAM acquires half of Aware Super's Victorian land registry stake
|Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has acquired Aware Super's 50% stake in Secure Electronic Registries Victoria (SERV), the private operator of Victoria's register of land.
Further Reading
Products
Expert Feed
When geopolitics becomes a portfolio risk
Geopolitics is back - again - and Australian investors can no longer treat it as distant background noise.
Does association membership still matter?
With all the changes the advice sector has experienced in recent years, such as regulatory reform and increased education and professional standards ...
Digital assets and where they stand in 2026
So far in 2026 digital assets have captured the headlines largely for the wrong reasons, but that doesn't tell the full story.
Rethinking default design in a changing market environment
The evolution underway in the US DC system highlights the value of periodically reassessing default design assumptions.
Featured Profile
Sarah Shaw
GLOBAL PORTFOLIO MANAGER
4D INFRASTRUCTURE
4D INFRASTRUCTURE
It wasn't confidence that prompted Sarah Shaw to walk away from established investment houses and co-found 4D Infrastructure in 2015. It was something she believes is far more important: courage. By Vinny Vucago.
The Financial Standard podcast Tune in each week as we discuss the latest developments in Australia's wealth management industry. |  |
I'm not sure if it's a fair comparison to line up shares options next to balanced MySuper defaults. Comparing ESG shares options to standard shares options would be a better comparison, and would show a different story (from a strictly financial perspective)
Focusing on balanced options within workplace super funds, in the year to 30 June 2018 ESG options out-performed regular balanced options on average by 0.7%, by 0.1% pa over three years and by 0.5% pa over five years. Sure it's marginal but that's the point. The message to us at Rainmaker is that well-run investment options be they ESG or regular perform similarly. There are two subsidiary points. First is the massive range that exists within the sector. Eg, over five years, the performance of regular balanced options ranged from 2% pa to 12% pa while the performance of ESG balanced options ranged from 7% pa to 12% pa. Second is that funds should not use ESG as an excuse for under-performance. Put another way, all of us should stop drinking our own Koolaid.