Is replacing standard investments with ESG substitutes a good choice?

Abstract

We compare traditional portfolio selection strategies with traditional stock market indexes in their standard and ESG versions. In addition to the comparison of 12 indexes from different markets in their ESG and standard versions. To compare the portfolios we use conventional performance measures, and the results show that replacing the indexes with their ESG versions does not detract from performance in terms of the Shape ratio and other measures. In general, there is no statistically significant difference between the returns of the indexes and the portfolios built with these indexes compared to those using the standard versions. So that the investor concerned with environmental and social issues can replace their equity market investments with ESG assets without harming their financial performance.