US

Investment giant BlackRock Inc. is changing the name, investment objective and strategies of its $3 billion Money Market Portfolio to make the fund more environmentally sensitive.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will provide guidance to financial firms later this month on what the agency will expect from them in terms of compliance with its new investment-advice rules.

It was a moment that should have been a win for both environmentalists and sustainable-minded investors: a fossil fuel investment vehicle named for the late oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens was transforming into a renewables fund to take advantage of interest in the energy transition.

JPMorgan Asset Management joined an investor group that’s pressing the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases to change their ways as part of a broader expansion of its sustainable investment efforts.

If you only tuned in to ESG in 2019, you would think the strategy, which invests with environmental, social and governance matters at the fore, represents the latest magic elixir for the investment community.

With the investing public expressing a seemingly insatiable desire to put their money behind various forms of environmental, social and corporate governance causes, it’s not surprising that the asset management industry is virtually falling over itself to launch products and strategies boasting various forms of ESG and sustainable-investing labels.

Investing in green mutual funds paid off last year as several top funds outperformed those without a sustainable focus. Over a longer period, though, the picture is more mixed.