MQ Industry LP: Educating Retail Investors for Impact Investing

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

As the global shift towards sustainability and climate change action continues, an urgent need for tools, services, and platforms that help manage a person’s environmental impact has emerged. Given that personal investment is at the root of carbon emission mitigation, retail brokerage firms have a unique vantage point in the fight against personal environmental impact, because, they have visibility into how individual investors invest, have the power to influence investment behaviour and carbon emission. Sustainable, responsible, and impact investing (SRI) is an investment discipline that considers environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) criteria to generate long-term competitive financial returns and positive societal impact. According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), SRI investing, which is considered an effective tool for combating the climate problem, has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with the current market estimated to be worth $715 billion; however, retail investors still have limited access to the sector. This project aims to investigate the obstacles that impede retail investors from engaging in impact investing and provide interventions including sustainable trading education and green information disclosure to cultivate investors’ green trading behaviour. This research project will provide significant social benefit by directing "a significant quantity of capital" to SRI investing, then driving a societal shift towards a new investment discipline, and ultimately facilitating the transition to a greener society. Additionally, this will create competitive advantages and new business opportunities for our industry partner, Futu Securities (Australia) Ltd.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/09/2231/12/25