University at Buffalo School of Management

Autumn 2022 Buffalo Business 9 dam Goldfarb, CEL '15, was invested in sustain- ability long before it was cool. In 1988, when his father, Jeffrey, CEL '00, formed his financial planning company, there were only a few small mutual funds engaged in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. Fast forward to today, and ESG funds represent 10% of worldwide fund assets, according to Reuters. By 2025, Bloomberg projects ESG assets will exceed $35 trillion globally, which has everyone from businesspeo- ple to policymakers taking notice. In May, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed tighter rules to prevent funds from profiting off this trend by misleading shareholders. "For a long time, there was a myth that you couldn't do well by screening your investments for sustainability issues," says Goldfarb, financial advisor and chief sustainability offi- cer at Goldfarb Financial. "Now you have the biggest money manager on the planet, BlackRock, telling companies, 'You better shape up or we're going somewhere else.' They're going to listen." With offices in Buffalo and New Orleans, Goldfarb Financial has built its brand on "capitalism doing good," helping clients clean up their portfolios while enjoy- ing strong returns. The firm is a Certified B Corp—a social enter- prise verified by the nonprofit B Labs—that is routinely honored among other B Corps as "Best for the World" for its customers and overall impact. "We're putting our money where our mouth is—we've gone carbon negative and are constantly making improve- ments where we can," says Goldfarb. "As sustainability becomes more mainstream, that's going to give us an edge over our competition." For decades in the business world, sustainability was relegated to a recycling initiative or public relations exer- cise—if it made the conversation at all. Today, investors, customers and employees alike are demanding that compa- nies take action and embed sustainability in their strategy and operations—or risk falling behind. "You cannot operate an effective business today with- out focusing on sustainability in some way," says Debabrata Talukdar, professor of marketing. "The business case for sustainability is like the business case for developing a better quality product—it's an intrinsic part of business." T H E B U S I N E S S C A S E F O R S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y " As sustainability becomes more mainstream, that's going to give us an edge over our competition." ADAM GOLDFARB, CEL '15 Financial Advisor and Chief Sustainability Officer Goldfarb Financial

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