Economy

ZEUS: Stefania Di Bartolomeo's quest to answer this one ESG question

24/7 Wall St. Staff

Published: November 11, 2021 10:19 am

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — Stefania Di Bartolomeo was a 30-year-old asset manager running about $100 million in an impact investing fund for about 6,000 institutional investors for Italy’s Banca Sella Group in 2018 when she got a call from a small investor.

“She was asking for proof her money would make a difference,” Di Bartolomeo recalls in Zoom interview recently. “She wanted to invest $500. I thought ‘how did you find me?’ But she was asking for something that was so necessary.”

Not long after, Di Bartolomeo started Physis, a Greek term for nature or law of nature, dedicated to displaying data in a way that showed investors where their investments were making a difference. Using metrics such as how holdings manage water security, on-site renewable energy, corporate philanthropy, or women senior management numbers, Physis adds a layer of insight into actions on environmental, social, and governance issues, not just performance and ESG scores.

Based in Boston, where she attended Harvard, Physis is currently raising funds. . . .

To read this column, all our insights, news and in-depth interviews, please subscribe and support our great climate finance journalism.

Read more of David Callaway’s ZEUS columns:

• ZEUS: How the U.S. can overcome Biden’s climate policy failure
• ZEUS: Fossil fuels are the new newspapers
• ZEUS: Engine No. 1 framework a first step to ESG financial statements
• ZEUS: The supply chain problem’s silver climate lining

Callaway Climate Insights Newsletter