Baillie Gifford ’ s James Anderson , the outgoing manager of the
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust , warns that commonly used ESG metrics and ratings are ineffective for measuring a company ’ s true sustainability credentials .
As an example , he points to Tesla , in which Baillie Gifford is the second-largest investor behind the company ’ s chief executive Elon Musk . Even though it is the world ’ s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles , Anderson notes standard ESG ratings suggest it is a polluter with ill-defined future metrics .
“ This is dangerous rubbish ,” he says . “ The relevant number isn ’ t the carbon Tesla expends , not even just the driving emissions removed and pollution deaths avoided , but all those plus the resultant benefits of its transformation of the rest of the industry . It ’ s all the electric vehicles made by others from Volkswagen to General Motors , because Tesla changed the world . That ’ s the scale of the contribution .”