Associated Press: Getting Carbon Out of Portfolios is Tricky

The Associated Press recently published an article on fossil fuel-free investing, which ran in the Washington Post, Boston Globe and a dozen other media outlets.

Jonathan Fahey writes:

“[W]hile student groups around the country are calling for college endowments to stop investing in fossil fuel companies, and some religious groups have done already so, it’s much trickier for individual investors.

Matt Patsky, chief executive of Trillium Asset Management, an investment adviser in Boston that has long helped endowments, religious organizations and wealthy families invest in socially-responsible ways, says that about a decade ago clients started asking the firm to create investment strategies that left out fossil fuel companies.

The firm, which manages $1.4 billion, now strips out investments in oil and gas companies, coal companies and utilities that generate electricity with mostly fossil fuels for these clients. The firm then adds shares of other companies that attempt to mirror the performance of these traditional energy companies. He says the firm has been able to generate returns as good or better than the broad market, though he says it is not possible to generate dividends quite as high as the total market.”

You can read the entire article here.