An insight piece with Dr Alan Whittle, Resolve ESG fund consultant
Sustainability has two halves: environmental and social. The social half of Resolve invests in companies providing credit, logistics and support to businesses in underserved markets across South America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent- work Alan finds more exciting than the environmental headline.
Ask what a green portfolio does and most people picture wind turbines and solar panels. The part that gets overlooked is the one Alan finds most exciting.
Resolve could have been built as a purely environmental portfolio – something explicitly green, focused solely on climate. It was a deliberate choice not to. Sustainability, as Alan frames it, has two halves: the environmental and the social. Leaving out the second would have meant missing much of what makes this kind of investing worthwhile.
The environmental case is well understood. The social one is where the portfolio reaches places a conventional fund rarely does — companies providing credit, logistics and support to new businesses in underserved markets across South America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Businesses working to open up opportunity where it has been scarce.
“It’s the social aspects that really make me most excited about investing in this kind of area.”
— Dr Alan Whittle
That is a striking thing to hear from a fund consultant, and it reframes what the portfolio is for. Investing responsibly is partly about not doing harm to the environment. But the ambition runs further than that – towards a positive contribution to society, not merely the absence of damage.
Why does reaching these companies require a specialist fund manager?
Because the most interesting social-impact businesses are small, innovative and based in markets an individual investor could never research directly – specialist fund managers do the on-the-ground due diligence instead.
There is a practical reason Resolve invests through funds rather than picking these companies directly. The businesses doing the most interesting work are often small, innovative and operating on the other side of the world. You will not come across them on the high street, and no individual investor could realistically research them all.
So the fund managers act as intermediaries – going out onto the global stage, finding these companies, and doing the rigorous testing an individual never could. Part of that testing is making sure a business is genuinely delivering a positive social outcome, rather than dressing up an opportunity to profit from people who are disadvantaged. That scrutiny is exactly why the collective approach matters.
The environmental headline is the one that sells sustainable investing. The social dimension is often the one that makes it worth doing.
FAQs
Is sustainable investing only about climate and the environment?
No. Sustainability has two halves – environmental and social. The social half covers companies providing credit, logistics and opportunity in underserved markets, which is often the less-discussed but equally important side.
Why invest in social-impact companies through a fund rather than directly?
These companies are often small, innovative and based in markets an individual investor couldn’t realistically research alone – specialist fund managers carry out the rigorous, on-the-ground due diligence instead.
- The value of your investments can go down as well as up, so you could get back less than you invested.
- The information here is for general guidance only and does not constitute personal financial advice. If you are unsure whether an investment is suitable for you, please speak to your Becketts adviser.
- Approved by Becketts FS Ltd 02/09/2026. Becketts is a trading name of Becketts FS Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA No. 409051)
