Claire Smith is the founder and CEO of Beyond Investing, a firm that builds investment products for vegans and environmentalists. After more than three decades in finance, including years at UBS and as a research analyst and partner at Albourne Partners, she left her hedge fund analyst role in 2017 to start the company.
Beyond Investing runs two ETFs, the US Vegan Climate ETF (VEGN), operating since 2019, and the International Vegan Climate ETF (VEGX), which launched recently. Both screen out animal exploitation and fossil fuels across the supply chain.
She also leads Beyond Impact, a venture arm backing animal-free startups, co-founded the Beyond Animal networking platform, and heads the Beyond Cruelty Foundation, which campaigns for a proposed SDG 18 on zero animal exploitation.
Timestamps:
[0:00] Why did an $8 million coal trade bother Claire?
[0:22] Who is Claire Smith?
[0:39] What is the mission of Beyond Investing?
[1:28] Why did Claire take up this cause?
[4:49] What qualifies a company as vegan?
[6:26] What are the less obvious ways companies harm animals?
[8:52] Is it wrong to assume big tech has no animals involved?
[9:14] Why is Amazon excluded?
[10:15] Why was Microsoft removed from the portfolio?
[11:28] How has the portfolio changed geographically?
[13:06] What should a CEO do to get into one of the indexes?
[15:59] Why was Apple removed, and did it change the Apple Watch?
[17:29] How does Beyond Investing measure carbon?
[19:37] How does Claire balance capitalism with personal conviction?
[21:14] What was the hedge fund story that changed her path?
[23:52] Why did that trade feel wrong to her but not to him?
[25:16] Why did Claire have to build the funds herself?
[26:38] What is a "cow unit," and why did Claire interrupt a pitch?
[28:01] Is cruelty-free better for business?
[30:39] Will eating meat be a delicacy in 100 years?
[32:38] How can listeners get involved?
[33:58] Can you buy the ETFs through Fidelity?
[34:46] What is the Beyond Cruelty Foundation, and what is SDG 18?
[37:07] Any final words?
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