Earth Day takes place this week on 22 April. Conveniently enough for Morningstar readers, the theme is "invest in our planet".
As our coverage this week shows, the roster of funds and investment strategies available to climate and environmentally-conscious investors who want to do just that is growing rapidly. Depending on your view, that's either brilliant or alarming, though it may also be both.
One way in which it’s brilliant is the sheer array of consumer choice now apparent in the marketplace. One way in which it may seem alarming is the lack of agreement on what ESG even is. Views vary, for instance, on if it should be a broad church or a dogmatic niche.
Like many such events, then, there are tensions beneath the surface. Earth Day might well sound like a celebration, but as time passes, there are fewer and fewer reasons to party.
As Morningstar Italy editorial manager Sara Silano explains in our opening video above, there is a world out there changing as the seconds pass. Two decades sit between us and a disaster. Even that might be a generous estimate.
However, in the here and now, there has never been a more decisive moment to debate investing in the planet. War, energy price spikes, and political instability have all lended the topic a distinctly sobering hue.
Fund manager excitement and marketing slogans aside, then, this is the environment ESG, climate, and environmental investors now have to weigh up. Look out for our continuing coverage as the week unfolds, and get in touch to share your views or experiences.
Ollie Smith is Morningstar's UK editor. Follow him online at @93_smithereens on Twitter, or email Ollie.Smith@morningstar.com.