Why it's clear that investing in social change pays off

Change is definitely afoot when a conversation with a leader in the financial industry touches on the following topics: how countries with women who are economically active have more resilient economies; sustainable investments; and investments in ESG-driven funds, which feature companies engaged in policies that do well on environmental, societal, or governance fronts.

That is the direction in which Douglas Peterson, president and CEO of S&P Global, says things are going.

“There’s a whole new level of consciousness of the purpose of capitalism and the purpose of corporations,” Peterson says. “And then people manifest that into, ‘How are my funds being invested?’” He says those questions are driving asset owners to ask asset managers to inform them about how funds are being invested, to help the investor feel that their money is “doing something that is going to improve the planet and is going to make us have a better future.”

Peterson joins Fortune’s Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt on this week’s episode of Leadership Next, a podcast about the changing rules of business leadership.

Peterson goes on to say that the emphasis on social good is not a fad: “This is a really important change; it’s fundamental.” And, he adds, it pays off.

“A year and a half ago,” Peterson says, “we launched the S&P 500 ESG Index, and we looked at all of the 500 companies in the S&P 500. About 340 of them complied with the screen that we put in place, [which] took out companies that produce certain types of weapons, companies in a certain level of carbon production, certain social scores, etc. That ETF that comes out of the indices has outperformed the S&P 500.”