Asset managers globally have become the lightning rod of populist views in Western countries, with the conversation now dominated by climate-change issues within the environmental, social and government (ESG) paradigm as well as what the prospective upheaval in the vehicle industry means for different metals, the Joburg Indaba heard this week. Investor respect for ESG is in a rapid state of evolution, was the message delivered by a panel chaired by Rothschild senior mining team adviser Fiona Perrott-Humphrey and including Blackrock’s Evy Hambro, Investec Asset Management portfolio manager George Cheveley, Allan Gray portfolio manager Sandy McGregor and Metal Industries Benefit Funds Administrators portfolio manager Myuran Rajaratnam. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)