Everyone is talking about AI, but on today’s episode we focus on the technology’s potential to disrupt health care. Then, we switch things up to look at how wildfires are exacerbating physical, legal and financial risks for electric utilities in the U.S.

In 2015, the UN launched its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to drive large-scale, positive environmental and societal impact. We mapped these SDGs to four broad themes — environment, society, economy and governance — to analyze corporate alignment patterns.

This week we discuss the new anti-obesity drugs that many have claimed could spell an end to the world’s obesity epidemic. But ESG and diseases are not so straight forward. For example, we include diabetes medication but not obesity medication in our access to healthcare key issue. Why is that? We explore the topic in this week’s episode.

What if there is a water utility that saves a city millions of gallons worth of water a day, but also increases its carbon emissions by a large amount? What if a company makes a product that saves people, but it allegedly uses forced labor to do so? Do you avoid these companies and products? Are you a follower of the Ethics of Ambiguity in that the means of production is the same as the ends? In this episode, we discuss the conflicts that arise for investors, impact investors especially, due to the inherent conflicts that are present in the operations of some companies.

Abbott Laboratories is having to answer difficult questions after the F.D.A found its Michigan plant to be “egregiously unsanitary.” The plant closed after four infants became ill and two died after consuming Abbott’s baby formula that was made at the plant leading to a national formula shortage. We discussed what happened and why product quality and safety is such a key issue in ESG analysis. Then, we discussed the Australia election results which were heavily influenced by climate change concerns.

After a draft opinion was leaked from the U.S. Supreme Court showed the possible reversal of the landmark abortion law called Roe v Wade, a new spotlight has been put on companies that manufacture abortifacients (aka abortion pills). We give you a quick look into what those pills are used for (not just abortions) and the companies that manufacturer them. Then we explore what sovereign bonds can tell us about how climate change is going to affect governments.

As the Russian escalation in Ukraine continues, Germany has decided to suspend certification of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline that would have doubled Russia’s natural gas export capacity to Germany. We discussed what this move means for the energy mix of Western Europe and what companies are exposed to the pipeline’s construction. Then, we discussed the equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine: which company has distributed the most vaccines to lower income countries and which company has distributed the least, and why it matters.

Everyone wants to get into mining these days. The extractive industries have seen a flurry of interest as the rush to decarbonize our economies sparks a race to control the metals those low-carbon technologies need to work. We discuss the ESG paradox this creates: on the one hand, mining is a fundamentally challenging sector when it comes to ESG and on the other hand for renewable energy to be a feasible solution to fossil fuels, we need batteries. Then we discuss a sustainability bond issued by Teva Pharmaceuticals with some of its provisions tied to both better access to healthcare and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Some companies are mandating their employees receive vaccine for COVID-19 if they want to continue working at the company. The idea sort of seems like a mandatory health and safety procedure, albeit one with a bit more controversy surrounding it than others. Still, the companies that have a fully vaccinated workforce may be in a better place come winter than those without. We discuss how vaccine mandates are similar to the proactive health and safety policies implemented at companies in more dangerous industries. Then we ask whether Walmart has become a social impact company with its new relatively low-cost insulin product offered to uninsured Americans.

We studied all ETFs and mutual funds in our coverage that invest in healthcare and allied industries to assess the degree of fund alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3. Overall, we found relatively little alignment.