This case study tells the story of Ambienta, an Italy-based asset management company that was an early entrant in the field of sustainable investing. From the very beginning, founder and managing partner Nino Tronchetti Provera saw sustainability as a "mega-trend" with broad implications for the national economy. By contrast, Ambienta's competitors - a category that now includes some of the world's largest asset managers - apply ESG-based investment criteria that often present more questions than answers about how environmental sustainability can drive financial returns.

This is the second of a two-part case study about Ambienta, a leading European asset manager focused on environmental sustainability. Case A introduces students and participants to the company and its unique profile in the industry. Ambienta's mission statement is "Sustainability adds value." The company has developed a proprietary methodology (the Environmental Impact Analysis or EIA) to demystify the linkage between financial returns and doing good for the planet. Case B is an exercise in which participants put themselves into the shoes of Ambienta's Sustainability & Strategy head as he applies the EIA to four hypothetical companies (based upon investment candidates actually analysed by Ambienta).