Sustainable Investing Not Solely for Stock-Pickers Says CCM Strategist

Sustainable investing is not solely the purview of stock-pickers. Fixed income fund managers also have a lot to offer on the subject, said David Sand, chief investment strategist at Community Capital Management (CCM). 'We take a bottom up approach so you can think of it as an affirmative or inclusive screen,' said Sand. 'We don’t buy corporate bonds as a firm so we are not working with some of the same restrictions that other ESG (Environmental Social Governance) managers are working in the equity space.' Sand said his clients are interested in affordable housing, economic development, small-business lending and sustainable agriculture among other areas for impact investing. When it comes to affordable housing, Sand said he is bullish on agency bonds for the coming year. 'Fannie (FNMA) , Freddie (FMCC) and Ginnie (GNMA) are all entities of the U.S. government these days and while there has been a lot of talk that some of that may change, that talk has been going on since before the financial crisis,' said Sand. 'We know they are excellent investment instruments in deeply liquid markets and are very transparent. We are very happy to be major investors in them.'