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Investing in sustainability: An interview with Al Gore and David Blood

• Three years ago, former US Vice President Al Gore joined with David Blood, the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to form an investment-management firm dedicated to investing for sustainability—that is, assessing the way social, economic, environmental, and ethical factors affect the strategy and valuation of businesses.
• In this interview, the two men explore the underpinnings of their investment philosophy and discuss traditional approaches to socially responsible investing, as well as society’s widening expectations of corporate responsibility.
• Gore and Blood also delve into their thinking on how to gain superior returns for investors while integrating sustainability into an investment model. They touch on the effects of long-term investing versus the “short termism” of some investors, discuss the complexity of valuing companies across multiple dimensions of sustainability, and assess the activities of companies that pursue the opportunities sustainability creates.