At Putnam, sustainable investing is our approach to identifying investments whose performance can benefit from a firm's strategic sustainability focus. We believe that our tailored and forward-looking sustainability research has the potential to mitigate risks and to generate strong risk-adjusted returns, and to be a key contributor to long-term investment results.

By researching on a company-specific basis, our team can:

  • Gain greater insights about opportunities and risks for all companies
  • Identify sustainability leadership that could benefit long-term performance
  • Discover innovations that offer sustainable solutions

“Putnam's active management approach asks, where does sustainability excellence improve a company's business prospects?”

Katherine Collins, CFA, MTS Head of Sustainable Investing

Putnam’s equity materiality map | Focus on what matters

  • The investment relevance, or materiality, of specific ESG issues varies by sector, geography, asset class, and company context.
  • Putnam's internally developed materiality map, inspired by the work of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), illustrates how relevance of ESG issues can vary across sectors.
  • Our Sustainable Equity team extends this analysis to identify sustainability leadership in financially relevant areas.

Equity Materiality Map

We invite you to gather more information about what ESG investing means, our sustainable portfolios and holdings, and our team.

Frequently Asked Questions | Sustainable Investing

What is the definition of sustainable investing?

At Putnam, sustainable investing aims to identify companies whose long-term business prospects are enhanced by a focus on sustainability. We believe that companies with leading strategies to manage business-relevant sustainability issues have the chance to improve growth and returns and mitigate long-term risks, and that companies providing solutions to key sustainability challenges have the chance to create businesses with strong growth and returns.

What is the outlook for sustainable investing?

The outlook for sustainable investments seems positive after rapid expansion over more than a decade, driven by growing investor demand. In the U.S., assets in sustainable stock and bond funds were $313 billion as of June 30, 2023. More than 650 funds are available to investors. Globally, assets in sustainable funds were over $2.8 trillion as of June 30, 2023. (Source: Morningstar, Global Sustainable Fund Flows: Q2 2023 in Review)

What do sustainable and ESG investing have in common?

There are important connections between sustainability and ESG. At Putnam, ESG integration is the incorporation of business-relevant environmental, social, and governance analysis into our research processes. Our sustainable equity products aim to go “beyond ESG,” by identifying companies whose fundamental prospects are enhanced by demonstrating leadership or providing solutions to key sustainability issues. In all cases, our goal is to enhance understanding and to improve investment decision-making. Learn more in Investing in companies improving our world.