Judging the effect of sustainability based on near-term investment returns is wrong, declared BlackRock’s most recent market commentary. Other fund groups have also stressed, quite rightly, that it would be a mistake to read too much into the relatively poor performance of stocks with high ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings in recent months. The long-term story remains intact, they insist.

Perhaps. Yet this shrugging off of short-term performance was not quite the impression the firms were giving a year ago. After the pandemic took hold they fell over themselves to issue press releases highlighting how well ESG stocks had done during the market turmoil and how this resilience underlined the value of sustainability for investors. The relatively solid performance should finally kill the myth that to do good you have to sacrifice returns, they said.