By Tawhid Ali, Andrew Birse
European investors were recently reminded how tricky it is to evaluate a company's environmental, social and governance ((ESG)) credentials. Tesla's (TSLA) plans to chop down a forest to build a manufacturing facility for electric cars in Germany reinforced the need for independent research and engagement to assess the risks and opportunities created by ESG controversies.
How can investors really know how well a company is dealing with ESG challenges? When Tesla secured approval from a German court in February to raze a forest in order to build its first assembly