The world is rapidly progressing. Technological innovation across nearly every industry, from energy to infrastructure, is transforming the way we live and do business. It’s also presenting significant investment opportunities with those companies leading on the innovation front that are well positioned to grow.
Sustainable and Impact Investments target competitive financial returns and seek positive social and environmental effects. Our suite of sustainable and impact investing solutions can help you invest in the momentum of this changing world with investments that incorporate sustainability analysis alongside traditional financial analysis to identify opportunities and potentially mitigate risks that could affect a company’s profitability. And if you’re looking to align your investments to your personal sustainability and impact preferences while pursuing competitive returns, we can help you do that too.
Take advantage of new opportunities as technology transforms our world
The world is evolving faster than ever before. Look at economic drivers — most industries are going through some type of transformation. Energy, healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture… the list goes on. If your portfolio is not taking this transformation into account with sustainable strategies, you could be missing out on real opportunities.
Think about the growth potential of…
A manufacturer of life-science tools and molecular diagnostic equipment with products that help improve disease diagnosis and treatment, drug development, and access to affordable, high-quality healthcare.
Think about the growth potential of…
A biotech company focused on late-stage clinical development and early commercialization of groundbreaking medical treatments
Think about the growth potential of…
An agricultural equipment manufacturer creating products that connect owners, operators, dealers and consultants, so, farmers can be closer to their data — improving their yields and resource management.
Think about the growth potential of…
A building and construction company that helps builders design more energy efficient and comfortable homes.
Think about the growth potential of…
An infrastructure company that provides ever more critical services as the world transforms, such as water, electricity grid solutions, and innovations in efficiency.
Sustainability analysis helps you evaluate potential risks while seeking competitive returns
By combining sustainability analyses with traditional financial and investment analysis, investors can discover new opportunities, better manage risk and pursue competitive financial returns while aligning their investments with their preferences. Supporting evidence shows that, major sustainability-related controversies (including data breaches) have wiped out $600bn+ of S&P 500 market cap since 2013 - indicating the role sustainability plays in potentially mitigating risk and improving returns.1
The Chief Investment Office due diligence team evaluates sustainable strategies and narrows down investments to those with a high probability of meeting or outperforming objectives.
Our Chief Investment Office due diligence process
For sustainable investing strategies, we apply the same investment standards that we use for traditional strategies and then apply a second set of standards to ensure the strategy also meets our sustainability criteria, including the ability to measure and report on impact results or sustainable goals.
Quantitative review: We look at historical performance and risk compared to the market to ensure an unbiased, numbers-based evaluation of each investment manager.
Qualitative review: We go beyond numbers to look at investment manager credentials, investment processes and risk management approaches with the goal of identifying the best-in-class advisors.
Rigorous governance & oversight: A final, ongoing evaluation is conducted by multiple oversight committees — helping identify the highest-conviction strategies to offer our clients.
Certain research has shown that sustainable investments that incorporate sustainability data have offered competitive performance.
46% of US sustainable funds as reported by Morningstar rank in the top two quartiles in their respective categories in terms of performance over a five-year period.2
15.83% vs. 15.95%
Over the past 5 years, returns for the MSCI World Selection Index were 15.83% annually, while the MSCI World Index gained 15.95% annually.3
A MSCI analysis found that companies in the highest quintiles for MSCI ESG Ratings for the MSCI World Index outperformed those in the lowest quintile over a 17-year period.4
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Aligning your portfolio to your sustainability preferences
Sustainable and impact investing allows you to align your investments to your personal preferences. By looking across three broad categories — People, Planet and Principles of Governance — we can help you choose investing strategies that drive positive change in the world.
People
Commitment to engaged and healthy workers and sustainable communities
Empowerment and inclusion
- Pay and promote fairly
- Ensure workforces at all levels have a variety of experiences and perspectives
- Drive increased standards of living for employees, including policies such as basic maternity leave and healthcare
- Encourage innovations to support the best of employee care
Sustainable communities
- Development of, and access to, affordable real estate
- Avoiding human and civil rights controversies
Planet
Contributions to climate and environmental sustainability
Energy Addition
- Renewable energy usage
- Revenue from products/services that reduce pollution and/or energy use
- Carbon emissions
Natural resources
- Avoiding natural resource controversies
- Total water consumption
- Avoiding water management controversies
Principles of Governance
Commitment to corporate ethics and societal benefit
Corporate governance
- Board independence
- Avoiding bribery and fraud controversies
Corporate behavior
- Avoiding product safety controversies
Sustainable and impact investing strategies available at Merrill
| | |
|---|---|
| Managed Strategies5 | Mutual funds, thematic exchange-traded funds and separately managed accounts |
| Alternative Investments5 | Sustainable private investments available for qualified investors |
| Sustainable Total Portfolios5 | CIO or Investment Manager portfolios implementing sustainable strategies |
| Customized Solutions5 | SMAs and customized solutions through third-party asset managers |
| Green bonds, sustainability bonds, social impact bonds, Market Linked Investments, Closed-End Funds and Unit Investment Trusts |
Bank of America’s dedication to responsible growth
One of the ways we drive Responsible Growth is through our work to serve our clients’ financial needs, including those clients helping deliver more secure, affordable and sustainable energy. In 2021, we set a 10-year goal to mobilize and deploy $1.5 trillion of sustainable finance by 2030, $1 trillion of which is dedicated toward the environmental transition.7 In the first four years since announcing this goal, we have mobilized and deployed more than $741 billion in sustainable finance, of which more than $404 billion aligns to the transition to a sustainable, clean-energy economy.7
Explore our other solutions
Whether you’re defining goals, addressing change or figuring out how to move forward, Merrill and Bank of America offer a wide range of solutions to help you take the next step and stay on track.
Explore more
-
Sustainable & Impact Investing: Engage in the momentum of our changing world
Learn more
-
Market Decode: What’s ahead for the renewable energy sector?
Learn more
-
How climate risk can impact your portfolio
Learn more
Looking for an advisor?
All our advisors are committed to putting your needs and priorities first.
Merrill Advisor Match is a more
personalized way to
choose an advisor.
Or if you prefer,
we can have an
advisor contact you.
1 Source: Factset, BofA U.S. Equity & Quant Strategy, “Includes 35 major controversies related to data breaches, accounting scandals, customer safety, sexual harassment and other ESG topics. January 2023.
2 Source: Morningstar, "US Sustainable Funds Landscape 2024 in Review
3 Source: Bloomberg, as of 11/28/25
4 SSource: MSCI, "ESG Ratings in Global Equity Markets: A Long-Term Performance Review," Fall 2025. Analysis spans 12/29/2006 - 12/29/2023. (latest available)
5 Capability offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated.
6 Capability offered by Bank of America, N.A. and its bank affiliates.
7 Bank of America 2024 Annual Report.
Alternative investments are intended for qualified investors only. Alternative investments such as derivatives, hedge funds, private equity funds, and funds of funds can result in higher return potential but also higher loss potential. Changes in economic conditions or other circumstances may adversely affect your investments. Before you invest in alternative investments, you should consider your overall financial situation, how much money you have to invest, your need for liquidity and your tolerance for risk. Alternative investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk.
Sustainable and Impact Investing and/or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) managers may take into consideration factors beyond traditional financial information to select securities, which could result in relative investment performance deviating from other strategies or broad market benchmarks, depending on whether such sectors or investments are in or out of favor in the market. Further, ESG strategies may rely on certain values based criteria to eliminate exposures found in similar strategies or broad market benchmarks, which could also result in relative investment performance deviating.
