US SIF’s new CEO talks ESG challenges, opportunities for advisors

investmentnews.com:

Maria Lettini recently took the helm at US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. Lettini was previously the executive director of UK-based FAIRR Initiative, which addresses the risks and opportunities of animal agriculture for institutional investors. As the new leader of one of the major industry groups in the country promoting ESG disclosure and sustainable investing, she spoke with InvestmentNews about the challenges in the current environment and the need to engage financial advisors.

InvestmentNews: You’re taking over at US SIF at a pivotal time for sustainable investing and ESG. Why did you want this job? What is at stake in the space right now?

Maria Lettini: ESG and sustainable investing have been around for several decades, and those were some really formidable years. But now it’s an interesting time, when we have had it becoming much more mainstream, becoming part of the quilt of how we invest, generally. For me, coming to the US SIF and coming back to the U.S. was a thoughtful career move. Because now is the moment. ESG is receiving some headwinds, particularly in the U.S.

And you can say that across sectors — it’s not just about sustainable investing. It’s transition risk. It’s the energy sector and the auto sector. It’s the agricultural sector. We need the U.S. to essentially fall in line, collaborate and cooperate.

I had a career in finance and in the institutional investor space. I then went back and studied sustainable development and finance, and that’s kind of the avenue I wanted to go. That opportunity fell in my lap to work at the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and literally grow that organization to a point where there was a substantial critical mass of investors that