ESG
The university has adopted a socially responsible investing policy that requires the institution to consider environmental sustainability and social justice factors in its investment decision-making.
The university is barring investment decisions that are based primarily on environmental or social factors in light of a new state law, while its outsourced cio looks to increase private real estate allocations.
As cio at the San Francisco-based Parnassus, focused on sustainability-related investments, Ahlsten leads portfolio management for the Parnassus Core Equity fund and Parnassus Core Select ETF strategies. He took the time to answer five questions with FIN News.
The Midwest-based private equity firm recently held the final close of its renewable energy fund, surpassing its original $750 million target.
The university has voted down two proposals asking to divest its endowment from entities related to the war, humanitarian crises and human rights violations in Israel and will not consider further petitions.
The university decided against a proposal to halt financial ties to entities associates with Israel as it did not meet three main criteria, including consensus within the university community on how to respond to the issue.
The role oversees the firm’s engagement with institutional and private investors to support its growing platform and long-term investment strategy.
A U.S. representative in the South has reintroduced legislation to institute an excise tax on the endowments of 11 U.S. universities to 6% from the current 1.4%.
The school decided against divesting its endowment from companies and industries implicated in military and police violence in Gaza and the West Bank as the portfolio had a de minimis exposure to identified stocks.
The governor signed a law that goes into effect this week that bars state colleges or universities in the state from considering ESG-related factors when making an investment decision.