On July 24, 2017 the Financial Times published an opinion piece on ESG in emerging markets contributed by Egon Vavrek, an EM equities portfolio manager at APG Asset Management.
According to Mr. Vavrek, (r)esponsible investing and emerging markets were two terms that used to be considered irreconcilable by investors. The world has changed.” He describes how some emerging markets companies perform well against their developed country peers in terms of ESG disclosure, but in general he finds “limited data availability and lack of disclosure.” However, he also notes “encouraging initiatives from a few core emerging markets” including the “introduction in South Africa in 2010 of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Integrated Reporting Standards.”
Registered users may read the article on the Financial Times internet site.