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What if the biggest financial returns of our time come from solving the world’s greatest challenges?
Real Returns highlights the biggest opportunities in sustainable investing. It goes beyond applying ESG criteria to your investment portfolio to identify the biggest, most profitable and exciting sectors that provide both financial returns and sustainable outcomes. With strategies for your portfolio, evolving standards and frameworks and their limitations, it's a must-read for professional investors, finance professionals, chief investment officers, and business leaders navigating capital decisions.
As the climate crisis and capital markets converge, this book could not be more urgent or more empowering.
Wincel Kaufmann is a leader in sustainable investing, a former BlackRock executive and the founder of blueColab, a company focused on sustainable investing and capital advisory.
At BlackRock she served as Global Sustainable Investing Lead for the Private Markets, leading sustainability strategies across real estate, infrastructure, private equity and credit, shaping sustainable investment strategies for over $300 billion in assets. Her work supports the advancement of the low-carbon transition, mobilizing private capital for renewable energy and driving innovation in nature-based solutions.
She has authored white papers such as Strategic Opportunities in Sustainable Real Estate and contributed to the ‘State of European Pension Funds’ Net-Zero Transition’ report by Climate Policy Initiative.
Wincel is an Advisory Board Member of the Solar Impulse Foundation’s World Alliance for Efficient Solutions and serves as a judge for the Women of the Future Awards. She has spoken at prestigious forums, including New York Climate Week, the Milken Institute Global Investors Forum, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. With an MBA from INSEAD, a degree in Economics and certifications in ESG investing, she brings a global perspective to advancing sustainable finance.
She is a Swiss-Filipina who has lived in five countries and speaks three languages. Now living in Switzerland with her husband and their dog, she continues to advise and teach others how to navigate sustainable investing.
Foreword vii
Introduction xi
Part 1 1
Chapter 1: Not All ESG Funds Are Created Equal 3
Chapter 2: The Trillion-Dollar Industries Are Built Around Renewables 21
Chapter 3: The Future Is Digital, Transparent and Data-Driven: Climate Tech and AI 45
Chapter 4: Nature-Based Solutions: A Growing Market Not to Ignore 61
Chapter 5: Real Estate: From Concrete to Conscious Capital 79
Chapter 6: Profit or Purpose? Why Society Is Your Ultimate Shareholder 97
Part 2 113
Chapter 7: Returns with Responsibility: Rethinking Private Equity 115
Chapter 8: Sustainability Standards for Smarter Portfolios 139
Chapter 9: From Capital Allocation to Catalyst: Rethinking the Investor’s Role 165
Acknowledgements 179
Notes 181
Climbing Higher in Sustainable Investing 185 Glossary 187
References 193
Index 205