How We Survive

4.9 (1.3K)
BUSINESS
WEEKLY SERIES

"How We Survive" is an award-winning podcast from Marketplace, hosted by Amy Scott, about the messy business of climate solutions. In the seventh season, we investigate the rise, fall and reincarnation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing. And we look at where Wall Street money is driving solutions, where it’s causing more problems, and we ask if capitalism is even compatible with sustainability.

EPISODE 1

The God Box

To understand the fierce and widespread backlash to environmental, social and governance investing — and more specifically, climate-conscious investing — it helps to first understand its humble origins. Part of that history began about as far from Wall Street as possible, spiritually anyway, with faith-based investors. In this episode of “How We Survive,” we travel to the hub for religious investors: the God Box in New York City, aka The Interchurch Center. We trace the parallel tracks of religious investors and Wall Street stakeholders back in time to find out how ESG became the polarizing strategy it is today.

26 min
EPISODE 2

The Death of ESG

In recent years, ESG investing moved from a mainstream strategy promoted by the biggest asset managers in the world, to a polarizing topic. Financial firms scrubbed the acronym from their websites, dropped out of net-zero initiatives, and stopped advertising their climate efforts. Some have proclaimed ESG dead and buried. But if so, who killed it and why? In this episode – our ESG whodunit – we take out our magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the legislation that would spark dozens of other bills across the country. We’ll question a line-up of suspects at the center of the anti-ESG plot, and dive into their motivations for protecting the fossil fuel industry.

33 min
EPISODE 3

ESG, Reincarnated

Can we invest our way out of the climate crisis? That’s the question we started this series with, and in this episode, we try to answer that question. Host Amy Scott pops the hood of her own retirement investments to look at how to reduce their carbon impact, and she shows you how you can too. We visit a battery storage farm in the Bronx to see how New York City is leveraging its shareholder power to accelerate the energy transition. Finally, we look at a phenomenon that has emerged in the wake of backlash against environmental, social and governance investing — something called “greenhushing.”

22 min
SEASON 7 TRAILER

“How We Survive” returns April 9

Can capitalism save us? In 2020, it seemed like the answer was “possibly.” That year, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink shook up the investment world in his annual letter to companies, in which he made climate change a major focus. On CNBC he stated, “We believe a portfolio that focuses on sustainability and climate change will be a portfolio that outperforms … and it will also help the planet.” But that was before a fierce backlash ensued. In this season of “How We Survive,” we follow the money — from a gathering of religious investors in New York City to a yacht in the Port of Houston — to trace how climate-conscious investing (the E in ESG) evolved from a small corner of the market, to a mainstream strategy, to a bogeyman of the right. We uncover the ways climate-conscious investing lives on today and ask: Can we invest our way out of the climate crisis?

3 min

See All Season 7 (4)

4.9

out of 5

1,319 Ratings

Fantastic in depth reporting

May 29

Urtvl285

Truly impressive interviews, investigative research and exposing. I was particularly impressed by the ESG reporting. Even while working in the industry, the episodes helped me see the bigger arc.
Really Interesting

Apr 30

taterpac party

I’ve learned a ton listening to this podcast, appreciate how the team examines this issue from a variety of perspectives. Highly recommend!
Pete Hegseth

Feb 25

Peter Guillam

…sat in that 50-degree tank for 666 minutes. While draining a case of cheap whiskey. Got out. Flipped the bird at pictures of Obama and Clinton. Posed in a Musk-Bannon salute while facing Russia. And finished with 34-time felon Duh Donalds on three bottle-blond, phony topped social media influencers. While singing Duh Donald Dyed Dixie Banner.
Rick France

Feb 20

Courreur18

Over the years we have grown to feel the Kai is part of our family Over the several series of podcasts, he manages to discover the human side of business, economics, and, of course, serious topics like climate change. We trust Kai, and you should too listen to everything he does.

"How We Survive" is an award-winning podcast from Marketplace, hosted by Amy Scott, about the messy business of climate solutions. In the seventh season, we investigate the rise, fall and reincarnation of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing. And we look at where Wall Street money is driving solutions, where it’s causing more problems, and we ask if capitalism is even compatible with sustainability.