“Taking action on climate mitigation — that is our urgent need. It’s important for us to be able to support companies in their funding. ”
— Ashley Schulten
In this episode, I’m speaking with Ashley Schulten, the Head of ESG Investment for Global Fixed Income at BlackRock. After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Ashley found her beginnings in the world of finance as a bond trader at First Union. From there, she evolved in the financial world at institutions like BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, before landing at BlackRock.
At BlackRock, where over 600 people manage more than $700 billion invested in sustainable strategies, Ashley oversees ESG investing and integration in the active fixed-income asset class.
Besides driving the change toward a sustainable future within finance, her leadership extends beyond BlackRock to influential roles in the TCFD and the Executive Committee of the ICMA Green and Social Bond Principles.
Ashley is also an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow and sits on the board of the Mianus River Gorge, the first land conservancy project for the Nature Conservancy, which showcases her commitment to sustainability.
This episode emphasizes the transformative power of integrating ESG data into investment analysis and decision-making. Ashley also shares how she witnessed the birth and development of the green bonds market, explaining what they are, how they work, and how BlackRock was an early adopter of this transformative financial instrument.
By leveraging green bonds, impact investing, and ESG data, BlackRock not only achieves its desired risk profiles and outcomes for investors but also drives meaningful change in the real economy.
Ashley and I also discuss BlackRock’s PEXT/NEXT ESG framework that her team uses to evaluate, tag, and categorize investments based on their positive and negative externalities.
Ready to learn the ins and outs of green bonds and ESG fixed-income investing? Tune in and hear all about it from the woman who spearheaded the evolution of ESG principles at BlackRock.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
SHOW NOTES:
[00:00] Episode introduction
[03:00] Meet Ashley Schulten and learn about her background
[13:22] Ashley’s evolution from options trader to Head of ESG of Global Fixed Income at BlackRock
[21:09] An overview of BlackRock and its sustainable strategies
[25:50] Green bonds & the role of publicly traded bonds in driving sustainability
[34:31] ESG criteria in investment analysis & an explanation of PEXT/NEXT
[46:58] ESG-integrated vs. ESG-tilted portfolios & examples of ESG fixed-income funds
[57:32] The evolution of green bonds into a trillion-dollar market & their role in sustainable finance
[01:05:22] Measuring impact on fixed-income portfolios & issuer engagement
[01:13:50] Final thoughts and rapid fire questions
MORE ASHLEY SCHULTEN QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW:
“It’s not what Ashley and her team think is good for the world. It’s having hundreds of conversations with clients globally to understand what would they like to see emphasized. ”
— Ashley Schulten
“Being able to have access to all that ESG data — to be able to purchase it, pipe it, use it, put it in a system, and to dissect it — is important. ”
— Ashley Schulten
