What sustainable investing looks like in practice with Shanu Mathew (Lazard Asset Management)

Sep 30, 2025

Shanu Matthew, Senior VP at Lazard Asset Management, specializes in sustainable equity investing. He reveals Lazard's unique stock selection process, blending financial metrics with a sustainability scorecard. Shanu discusses the financial performance of transition stocks and the massive scale of AI-driven data center investments, including hyperscaler capital expenditures. He explores creative power solutions and the geographical nuances of data center growth, while emphasizing the critical role of batteries in future energy solutions.

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INSIGHT

Two Tests For Sustainable Stock Selection

Lazard combines a fundamental cash-flow test with a proprietary sustainability score from -5 to +5 to pick stocks that can outperform long term.
Analysts who cover stocks also perform sustainability analysis to link ESG drivers to financial inflection points.

INSIGHT

Incumbents Can Beat Pure-Play Clean Tech

'Pure play' clean-tech stocks have underperformed recently due to supply/demand shocks and interest rates.
Incumbent companies with underappreciated transition tailwinds often offer better risk-reward opportunities.

ADVICE

Underwrite For Multi-Year Holding Periods

Underwrite stocks with a multi-year time horizon and aim to hold winners for three to five years where the thesis is intact.
Rotate out when market appreciation or thesis deterioration skews risk-reward unfavorably.

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How do public markets really view the energy transition? And what signals are investors looking for before they back the companies building tomorrow’s energy system? Financing the energy transition isn’t just about building projects, it’s about convincing capital markets to back them. Uncertainty around policy, regulation, and profitability often slows the flow of capital into clean energy and without clear signals, institutional investors may hesitate, leaving projects underfunded and slowing down the pace of change.

So what will it take to unlock that investment at scale? In this conversation, Quentin is joined by Shanu Mathew, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Lazard Asset Management, explains how public markets view the risks and opportunities of the transition. He shares what investors are really looking for, from policy clarity to proof of long-term returns and how these signals can accelerate the deployment of capital into the companies and technologies shaping our net zero future.

Key topics covered include:

• How public markets evaluate energy and climate-focused companies.

• The signals investors want to see before deploying capital.

• Why policy clarity and consistency are critical for unlocking investment.

• The impact of market volatility, interest rates, and geopolitics on investor appetite.

• What listed markets reveal about the future shape of the energy transition.

Note: Our guest caught a slip of the tongue—at timestamps 22:52, 23:08, and 23:21, they said "per square foot" but meant "per megawatt."

About our guest

Shanu Mathew is Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Lazard Asset Management, where he manages global public equity portfolios for institutional investors. With a focus on energy and climate, he brings a unique perspective on how public markets assess risk, opportunity, and long-term value in the transition to net zero. His insights highlight what investors need to see to unlock capital at scale for the clean energy transition. For more information on Lazard Asset Management - head to their website.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our interviews are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, conversations, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.