In keeping with last year’s “Succession,” which was about money and media power, HBO/MAX has another cult hit called “Industry,” which just completed its third season. The series takes place at the London branch of a fictional American investment bank called Pierpoint & Co. This season, the major theme revolves around ethical investing, often referred to as ESG (environmental, social and governance), which poses challenging questions for the characters.
At a conference in Switzerland, ESG is all the rage of political and economic elites, but not everyone is buying it. One wealthy investor says he doesn’t worry about Venice sinking into the sea due to climate change because he’ll be dead by then anyway.
If you own shares of stock in an S&P 500 index funds, you may or may not be ethically investing by ESG standards, depending on your point of view. Stocks that make up the index include Chevron (big oil) and Altria Group Inc. (cigarettes). These companies generate billions in revenue, some of which is returned to shareholders in the form of dividends. But these companies would be shunned as investments by anyone who puts ESG first. No spoilers here, but ESG investing does not turn out well for Pierpoint & Co.
When the firm’s ESG investments begin to unravel, one of the main characters is asked what he believes in and he replies, “I believe in the trade.” The personal drama and relationships between the lead characters, makes the series a financial soap opera, but after all the drama the question posed in this season is left unanswered: Can you be an ethical and good person while trying to maximize your investment profits or is money always agnostic?
Philip Wasserman
Stevenson Ranch
