If you want your investments to match your principles should a threat to divest be part of your long-term strategy?   In the fourth episode of our special five-part series on sustainable or ESG investing, produced in partnership with the FT’s Moral Money team, the story of the California State Teachers' Retirement System, or Calstrs, and why its decision to divest from the US private prisons industry prompted tears and passionate discussion on the board. Joe Rennison, deputy US markets editor, assesses the long-term impact that divestment can have on companies, while Moral Money’s Patrick Temple-West, Attracta Mooney, the FT’s investment correspondent, and Lindsay Frost, a senior reporter at Agenda, an FT publication about the corporate board space, explain why divestment presents a conundrum for investors and whether passive investment funds are really compatible with ESG investing.  JPMorgan funds invested in CoreCivic debt after vow to stop financing private prisons Bond funds wrestle with human rights dilemma Divestment Concerns Creep In for More Industries Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.  Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg Review clips: Calstrs, NBC, Global News, PBS, AP, CBC News, The Guardian, CSPAN Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Milton Friedman, the renowned American economist and spiritual mentor of many entrepreneurs, argued that the social responsibility of business was to increase profits. This has been the gospel since the early 1970s, but companies and investors are beginning to rethink the purpose of business. Has the sun really set on the Miltonian era? In the second episode of our special five-part series produced in partnership with the Moral Money team, Leila Abboud, the FT’s Paris correspondent, and Gillian Tett, the FT’s US editor-at-large, tell the story of Emmanuel Faber, the former CEO of Danone who embraced environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes - and then was ousted eight years later. Turns out there was more to the story than first meets the eye. The fall from favour of Danone’s purpose-driven chief Check out stories and up-to-the-minute news from the Moral Money team here.  Get 30 days of the premium Moral Money newsletter free, together with complimentary access to FT.com for the same period, visit www.ft.com/insideesg Review clips: CNBC, Danone, British Pathé, IMAGINE, France 24 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.