Onerous legal rules for Impact Investing?

You can trust that lawyers will not miss a chance to make things complicated - and then charge ever-rising fees to disentangle the rules and regulations that they helped to create. Case in point this report by Freshfields about the obligations of fund managers to take impact (socially/environmentally) of the decisions into account. The problem with imposing these obligations is that any lobby group - however small - can start legal proceedings and impose substantial costs on the funds (while often supported by taxpayer money, directly or indirectly or by donations from charities, ngo's or think tanks that in their turn are only representing the view of a small but often vociferous minority). Taken to the extreme there could be a challenge to the investment in a milk delivery company because (take any of the options) it uses petrol or diesel for its vans, uses metals sourced from 'bad' countries, does not have a workforce split evenly between male/female, old/young, white/non-white etc. The possibilities are endless. As are the costs and burdens on business and ultimately the end consumer/investor, Joe Sixpack, you and me.
Freshfield Report

(15-Dec-2021)