2022年经济学人 可疑的绿色基金在美国十分猖獗（1）

Finance & economics

财经板块

Green investing: Uncle Sham¹

绿色投资：伪“善”姆大叔

Dubious² green funds are rampant³ in America

可疑的绿色基金在美国十分猖獗

It is not easy being green.

绿色环保并非易事。

In November Amundi, Europe’s largest investment manager, downgraded most of its 45bn euros ($47bn) of funds ranked Article 9, the highest grade in the EU’s sustainability disclosures, to Article 8, or “light green”.

欧洲最大的投资管理公司Amundi有450亿欧元(合470亿美元)的基金被评级为“第9条产品”基金，这是欧盟《可持续金融披露条例》中最高的评级。11月份，Amundi将这些基金中的大部分降级至“第8条产品”基金，也称为“浅绿色”基金。

New regulations are forcing many others to recast their wares⁴ in less virtuous⁵ colours.

新的法规正迫使许多其他公司将自己的产品换成不那么道德的颜色对应的评级。

Nearly one-tenth of all Article 9 funds have left the category since the European Commission tightened⁶ its criteria⁷, in July.

自从欧盟委员会在7月份收紧标准，所有“第9条产品”基金中有近十分之一已退出该类别。

That has exposed European fund managers to accusations⁸ of greenwashing, and for some the label is deserved.

这让欧洲基金管理公司受到了漂绿的指责，对一些公司来说，有这个标签也不冤枉。

But new research published this week in the Review of Finance, an academic journal, suggests American firms are doing worse.

但本周发表在学术期刊《金融评论》上的一项新研究表明，美国公司的情况更糟。

When it comes to sustainable investing, Wall Street stalwarts appear to run a fully⁹ fledged laundromat of exaggerated sales pitches and bogus claims.

在谈到可持续投资时，华尔街的中坚力量看起来就像是在经营一家成熟的自助洗衣店，里面充斥着夸大的销售宣传和虚假声明。

To gauge¹⁰ this the authors examined funds that have signed up to the UN-sponsored principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), a scheme that investment managers can sign up to certify¹¹ they take account of environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles when making investment decisions.

为了判定这一点，这篇研究的作者考察了签署联合国支持的负责任投资原则(PRI)的基金，投资管理公司可以签署该计划，以证明自己在做出投资决策时考虑了环境、社会和公司治理(ESG)原则。

On the face of it, that is a promisingly¹² large sample: 2,000 investors¹³, overseeing $135trn of assets, now say they will obey the PRI.

从表面上看，签署方这么多，看起来很有希望：管理着135万亿美元资产的2000名投资者现在表示他们会遵循PRI。

The problem is that such pledges can mean little.

问题是，这样的承诺意义不大。

Looking at the period from 2003 to 2017, researchers found no sign that the portfolios¹⁴ of PRI signatories in America had higher ESG scores, across a range of metrics, than non-signatories.

从2003年到2017年，研究人员没有发现任何迹象表明，在一系列指标上，PRI美国签署方的投资组合ESG得分高于非签署方。

Their peers across the pond scored much higher.

而大西洋彼岸的PRI签署方得分要高得多。

“There could be a couple of bad apples in Europe. But it’s not the entire cart that’s rotten,” points out Alex Edmans, a finance professor at London Business School and the editor of the study.

编写该研究报告的伦敦商学院金融学教授亚历克斯·埃德曼斯指出：“欧洲可能会有几颗老鼠屎，但不能说整锅粥都是坏的”。

1 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

2 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

3 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

4 wares   

n. 货物, 商品

参考例句：

• They sold their wares at half-price. 他们的货品是半价出售的。
• The peddler was crying up his wares. 小贩极力夸耀自己的货物。

5 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

6 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

7 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

11 certify   

vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给

参考例句：

• I can certify to his good character.我可以证明他品德好。
• This swimming certificate is to certify that I can swim one hundred meters.这张游泳证是用以证明我可以游100米远。

12 promisingly   

（通常只是开头）给人以希望地，良好地

参考例句：

• The afternoon had begun so promisingly. 下午一开始就很顺利，就预示着成功。
• The first batch of wheat is growing promisingly! 头茬小麦的长势喜人呀！

13 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

14 portfolios   

n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 )；（保险）业务量；（公司或机构提供的）系列产品；纸夹

参考例句：

• Price risk arises in non-trading portfolios, as well as in trading portfolios. 价格风险中出现的非贸易投资，以及在贸易投资组合。 来自互联网
• How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? 我们怎样育肥我们的投资结构和维持财政健康呢？ 来自互联网