"Impact Investing Is Becoming Increasingly Important"

credit: ZTE USA Google+ profile

When Matt Christensen moved to Europe from the US 25 years ago, he hoped to build the business of the US financial portal Motley Fool in Germany.

But the dot-com crash changed everything for the California-born Danish father of three, who soon realized that companies should be evaluated based on more than just their financial health.

"ESG and sustainability have become huge topics," he tells Bloomberg.

"Twenty years ago, people laughed at ESG investments, and Germans, in particular, were very skeptical," he says.

"That has changed since then."

Now, Christensen is the Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing at Allianz Global Investors, one of the biggest asset managers in Europe.

His job is to make sure that companies adhere to environmental, social, and economic (ESG) principles when investing in their own assets.

"The objective is to ensure the effective implementation of ESG and sustainability principles within the organization," he says.

"Equally important is looking ahead, with impact investing playing an increasingly significant role in shaping the next phase of this agenda."

Christensen's work has led him to create the European Sustainable Investment Forum, an organization promoting ethical investment based in Brussels.

He founded it in 2002, and it received funding from the European Commission, among others.

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