{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Stop Lying to Us: Human Rights, ESG and the Future of Sustainable Finance","description":"\u201cSustainable\u201d is one of the most overused words in modern finance and, at times, one of the least interrogated. In this episode of The GoodStock Tapes, Clemence is joined by Chris Welsford, founder of Antithesis Research and a long-standing independent financial adviser. Chris has spent decades challenging the industry\u2019s blind spots from the mis-selling culture of commission to the uncomfortable reality that many \u201cethical\u201d portfolios still hold companies linked to serious harm. At the heart of the conversation is a deceptively simple idea: the power of the question. Chris explains why the biggest gap in sustainable and ethical investing is often not a lack of policies, but a lack of meaningful accountability. When clients \u201ctake the lid off the fund\u201d and find companies that don\u2019t align with their values, fund managers should be able to explain the trade-offs, yet too often, the response is a vague shrug about \u201cbalance\u201d and \u201caverages\u201d. Chris also makes the case that impact is being mis-measured. Environmental progress matters, but he argues we routinely underweight human rights and labour rights, even though climate change is already amplifying exploitation, through heat stress, migration pressures, and supply chains operating in increasingly unliveable conditions. The discussion goes further, questioning whether we\u2019ve asked fund management to solve problems that should be solved through regulation and whether \u201cESG\u201d has become so diluted that the line between sustainable and conventional investing is starting to blur. For financial planners, the takeaway is practical and provocative: stop outsourcing the thinking. Ask what\u2019s happening inside the portfolio, talk to clients honestly about complexity and complicity, and resist glib assurances that \u201cthere\u2019s nothing you can do\u201d. If you care about sustainable finance that stands up to scrutiny, this episode is an invitation to get more curious \u2014 and more courageous with your questions. About Chris Chris Welsford is an independent financial adviser and the founder of Antithesis Research, a worker-owned co-operative focused on scrutinising what sits inside \u201csustainable\u201d investment portfolios. He has worked in financial advice for around three decades, building his advisory firm, Ayers & Punchard, with a strong emphasis on transparent, fee-based advice and a long-standing interest in socially responsible investing. Chris is known for challenging the gap between the promises made by sustainable funds and the reality of their underlying holdings, particularly where companies may be linked to human rights, labour rights, or environmental harm. Through Antithesis Research, he works to bring deeper accountability to the fund management industry, encouraging advisers and investors to ask tougher questions, demand clearer evidence, and take a more honest view of what impact can (and can\u2019t) be achieved through listed markets.   ","author_name":"The GoodStock Tapes Podcast","author_url":"https:\/\/sites.libsyn.com\/611325","html":"