Investment Insights

Thematic environmental strategies face countervailing forces in the near term. Support may come from the ‘green shoots’ of the recent growth stock recovery, offset by the downdraft of recessionary risk. Investors with a longer-term view should stay focused on the tailwinds and enduring drivers of demand including regulatory and legislative support. 

While many bond investors have felt the earth move under the feet this year as the asset class experienced the finale of a 50-year bull market, the denouement has not stripped them of opportunities, Arnaud-Guilhem Lamy, head of euro aggregate bond management strategies, tells chief market strategist Daniel Morris. 

As part of its contribution to the low carbon energy transition, BNP Paribas Asset Management is taking action and implementing best practice, including in its investment strategies. This includes working with clients on decarbonisation and setting internal targets to progressively increase the share of assets under management aligned with net zero greenhouse gas emissions. 

The tide is rising for water as an investment theme as it benefits from a growing awareness of both climate change and years of underinvestment, particularly in water infrastructure. This focus should have a direct positive impact on companies providing water solutions, Justin Winter, water strategy co-manager, tells Andrew Craig, co-head of the investment insights centre. 

Tumultuous geopolitical and economic times may be clouding the prospects for the high-growth renewables sector now, but investors should not lose sight of the longer-term potential of areas such as solar and green hydrogen, Edward Lees, co-head of the Environmental Strategies Group, tells chief market strategist Daniel Morris on our weekly Talking heads podcast. 

Thematicinvesting, which centres on the long-term forces that shape consumer needs and industries, is a way for investors pivot away from traditional 60-40 portfolios to a broad and diversified set of opportunities that can create market-beating returns spanning several generations. 

Investors shell-shocked by the fallout from high inflation, rising interest rates and slowing economies and looking to alternative markets for portfolio diversification and attractive returns might want to consider a relatively young and little known asset class: direct small lending.

While equity markets are feeling the pinch from rising real rates, earnings reports and guidance are yet to reflect the effects of the encroaching recession. This leaves markets vulnerable to a downside correction once the message sinks in.  

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with Edward Lees, co-head environmental strategies group, and chief market strategist Daniel Morris. They discuss opportunities ranging from US infrastructure and securing supply chains for electric vehicle batteries to EV software and residential solar panels. Lees warns that funding support for under-pressure households should target the beneficiaries of high oil and gas prices without jeopardising the capital spending needed to speed up the energy transition.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with Vanessa Ritter, Head of Global Loans as she discusses the current environment and perspectives for the global loan market. She outlines the current opportunities and rational for investing in this asset class.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with Anaïs Boussie, our senior European economist as she discusses the outlook and perspectives for 2023 and 2024. She outlines the policy measures she expects the ECB and national governments to employ in coping with the consequences of the energy crisis and weak economic growth.

As a broad asset class underlying the full spectrum of economic activity and a non-cyclical slant, infrastructure debt has attributes that stand out for investors. One key point is that many of the services financed with these bonds are indexed, protecting cash flows from rising inflation. Also, the debt typically has floating rate coupons that are adjusted when interest rates rise.

Senior investment specialist for global equities Ramon Esteruelas briefs chief market strategist Daniel Morris on four books he has read on climate change. The books discuss the relevance of climate change science and the reliability of projections, the availability of adaptive and mitigating solutions and breakthroughs, the long road to net zero, and the need for a rethink on growth.

Until recently, humanity has relied on chemical solutions to address its biggest challenges. For example, our ability to grow food, to defend livestock against disease and to safeguard human health, all depend in part on chemical solutions. Today is no different. Yet resistance to chemicals is rising rapidly, exacerbated by climate change and ecosystem degradation. In the second of this series, Ulrik Fugmann and Edward Lees, co-heads of our Environmental Strategies Group, talk to Andrey Zarur, CEO and co-founder of GreenLight Biosciences, about how his company is using RNA technology to create a new generation of chemical free pest control methods. They consider the benefits of such innovations including enhanced food and biodiversity security, as well as the growing role investors can play in this area. The uncapped impact series brings you up close and personal with our Environmental Strategies Group and businesses that, regardless of their size, are making a big impact.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with senior equities portfolio manager Jonathan Barnett and chief market strategist Daniel Morris as they discuss the prospects for secular growth in an industry that enables users to save on costs, access real-time business data, tailor their customer experience and generally improve efficiency. As Jonathan points out, for a company to be best-in-class these days, it needs to have best-in-class IT systems and that includes cloud computing.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with Christophe Montcerisier, head of real estate debt, and chief market strategist Daniel Morris. They discuss the absence of a direct and immediate link between higher interest rates and the performance of real estate debt and the defensive characteristics of the asset class. Among other things, its solidity derives from some of the pandemic-induced structural changes, including a shift in office use and greater demand for suburban properties.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with senior portfolio managers David Favier and Olivier Boutoille and Daniel Morris, chief market strategist. They firstly discuss the current market environment before focusing on the advantages of investing in these floating rate instruments that offer varied risk/returns profiles for investors.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with portfolio manager Agne Rackauskaite as she discusses the challenges with Andrew Craig, co-head Investment Insights Centre. Beyond the war in Ukraine, the challenges ahead range from population growth to climate change. Agne highlights the benefits of a shift to more resource-efficient plant-based foods, better packaging and sophisticated irrigation and harvest technologies – and the related investment opportunities.

In this Talking heads podcast, Pierre Moulin, global head of products and strategic marketing, discusses the upcoming “positive revolution in the way investment products are distributed” with chief market strategist Daniel Morris.

Listen to this Talking heads podcast with portfolio managers Claire Mehu and Anne Froideval as they discuss the merits of this asset class with chief market strategist Daniel Morris. Listed real estate has a relatively low correlation with broad market equities over the longer term. Other important attributes are the prospect of limited supply in an already tight market and the value-enhancing effects of regulations targeting the sustainability of buildings.