The latest issue of the Cerulli Edge-European Monthly Product Trends Edition paints a picture of 'best practice' giving way to expediency. In it, the Boston-based analytics firm says that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, unlike outright ethical considerations, are more concerned with making systematic, quantifiable assessments of the financial consequences of an investment than judgements about what is morally "good" or "bad". ESG encompasses issues such as whether companies have sustainable business models or whether their performance could suffer because they do not have the right mixture of people in their boardrooms.