ABSTRACT
Sustainable, Responsible, and Impact (SRI) investing was more common in public equities in the industry’s nascent years (Roy and Gitman 2012). In 2012, Mercer reported that only 20 percent of SRI strategies were used in fixed income (Ambachtsheer and Burstein 2012); however, that figure has since grown. With approximately $25 billion in assets under management, Boston-based Breckinridge Capital Advisors (BCA) is one of the largest fixed income advisors to focus on SRI strategies. It has integrated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into traditional credit analyses and pursued engagement calls with holdings since 2011. In December 2015, the firm surpassed $1 billion in sustainable strategy assets, signaling a growing interest in SRI fixed income advisors. This interest is due to proliferating global risks, client demand, the increasing materiality of ESG factors, and the rise of green bonds, which reached a record-breaking $41 billion issuance in 2015 (Shankleman 2016). This section explores developments in SRI fixed income investing and delves deeper into green bonds to show progress achieved and improvements that remain. Fixed income refers specifically to corporate, municipal, and national and supranational bonds.
