Women as Wealth Creators: The Future of Household Decision Making, ESG and Sustainable Investments

May 16, 2022

“The fact of the matter is that whatever the reason sociologists might find to explain women’s higher interest in sustainability, they are leading the cause.”

—Professor Sarah Parry at the University of Edinburgh

The gist:

Environmental concerns “are top of mind in many countries, along with the role of consumption patterns and the rise of sustainable consumption.“

Shopping

Turns out “women are often targeted as the key decision-makers for a variety of purchases for households, and many believe they are leading the trend of elevating sustainability goals through choosing, among other things, products with lower carbon footprints, recycled or recyclable solutions, or reducing consumption altogether.”

ESGs

As co-founder of a climate fintech venture, Professor Sarah Parry at the University of Edinburgh, “I am often asked why there are so many women in ESG and sustainability. My empirical evidence is that this is indeed the case, with many Chief Sustainability Officers, heads of ESG or CEOs in climate change not for profits being female.” She contiues, “ I am not yet sure if the reason is that women are naturally caregivers, committed to leaving a prosperous future to our children, or if we are simply taking the space left by men who found ESG roles less appealing.”

Investing

Here too, “it is becoming apparent that women are more interested in strategies with a positive impact on society, taking into account people and planet rather than only profit.”

Stats:

• According to Morgan Stanley, more women than men are interested in sustainable investing, positive social impact investments, and climate change. In essence, women seem much more interested in making an impact with their investments.

• Women are now accumulating wealth faster than men, therefore in his new book, 2030– How today’s biggest trends will collide and reshape the future of everything,” Professor Mauto GuilleGuillen predicts that by 2030, more than half of the world’s wealth will be owned by women. As women are increasingly becoming entrepreneurs, he also predicts that by 2030 half of all new business ventures worldwide will be launched by women.

At that point he predicts the end of the era where most of the wealth was created, owned, and managed by men. He predicts, therefore, that financial markets “are in for a huge transformation.”

The author of this NASDAQ post concludes with: “We have never been so close to a scenario where women co-rule the world. Gender equality may still not be the norm by 2030, but as women control more wealth, it is likely that they will steer the debate towards areas that concern them, which includes education, healthcare and sustainability.”

Connect with the NASDAQ post here.