ESG投资背景下基金管理人的信义义务危机及其化解

The Crisis of Fiduciary Duty of Fund Managers and its Resolutions under the Background of ESG Investment

近年来,基金管理人积极践行ESG投资理念,推进我国绿色金融建设进程。追求社会效益和创造长远的投资收益是驱动ESG投资理念被广泛运用的二维动力,然而ESG理念与实现长远投资收益间的联系尚未完全确立,加之现阶段我国ESG投资技术的不成熟性与较大风险性,当基金管理人以实现社会价值为ESG投资的主要导向时有违反忠实义务下"唯一利益原则"的嫌疑。本文拟在概述ESG投资的起源与发展、深层剖析信义义务内涵的基础上,分析基金管理人在ESG投资中的具体操作是否有违反信义义务的风险,并为化解这些风险提供可供参考的路径。此外,ESG投资活动的主观性较强,强化ESG投资全过程的信息披露程度对于激励基金管理人在主观的投资决断时恪尽注意义务有重要意义。

In recent years,as an important part of advancing China’s green finance construction process,within the fund industry,fund managers have actively implemented the ESG investment philosophy.When applying the new investment concept,special attention should be paid to its legality,but at the present stage,some practices of ESG investment conflict with fiduciary duties.The pursuit of social benefits and the creation of long-term investment returns are the two-dimensional driving forces driving the widespread use of ESG investment concepts.However,as the link between the ESG concept and the realization of long-term investment returns has not yet been fully established and there is immaturity and great risk in China’s ESG investment technology at the present stage,when the fund manager takes the realization of social value as the main direction of ESG investment,there is a suspicion of violating the"sole interest rule"under the duty of loyalty.In addition,ESG investment activities are highly subjective,and strengthening the degree of disclosure of information throughout the ESG investment process is of great significance to incentivizing fund managers to abide by their duty of care when making subjective investment decisions.