We benchmark the Growth strategy against the MSCI ACWI — a global index of the world’s largest companies. Not an “ESG” index.
The reason is simple: most ESG benchmark providers tweak their methodology every few months to show that their factor beat the market. A MIT Sloan study documented widespread and repeated retroactive changes to ESG scores — they are, in effect, rewriting history on a rolling basis. The result is indices that often hold twice the concentration in companies like Nvidia while claiming to be sustainable. They’re a marketing product, not a measurement tool.
We’d rather be honest about how we differ from a standard global portfolio than pretend we’re tracking a benchmark that agrees with us by construction.
Our high active share — typically 95–98% — is a consequence of our ethics. We don’t manufacture it. When you exclude fossil fuels, weapons manufacturers, and companies with documented misconduct, you mathematically end up far from the mainstream index. We report that gap clearly rather than finding a benchmark that flatters it.
Investment strategies involve risk of loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results.