Oatly and Blackstone show that sustainability is a major aspect for investors
There has been a huge uproar among the fans of Oatly, a producer of delicious oat milk. Why? Because the Swedish company took money from Blackstone, on of the world’s biggest investment companies.
The backlash was so huge that Oatly posted about it on their website. The gist of their message was that taking in a globally connected investor was not selling their values but a sign that sustainable operations are expected by investors now. According to Oatly this is a great sign to the world. Sustainability is now a major concern of mainstream investors and not only the aspiration of fringe activist.
I really like this view. Climate change can only be tackled successfully if the majority are in on it. This year, the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Finck, wrote a letter to the CEOs of the companies BlackRock invested in to remind them about the importance of focusing on climate change. Fink underlined that BlackRock will expect more transparency from companies in terms of sustainability as this a huge indicator of long term success for a company.
In a previous version of this article there was quite the confusion about BlackRock and Blackstone. Blackstone is the investment company that investet in Oatly. BlackRock is also an investment company that has a history of non-sustainable investments. Thank you Jamie for pointing it out.
Big companies are also openly stating their view that sustainable investment is the future, among them EY, McKinsey, KPMG and Goldman Sachs. The Harvard Business Review has been picking up on this trend too.
The bottom line is clear: aiming for sustainable operations and supply chains in companies is no longer a dream of hippie activist but the minimal expectation of the biggest investors in the world.
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