With impressive speed, Blackrock and other gold plated US addresses in the financial sector have trimmed their sails to the wind now blowing from a different direction. Climate change? Conservation of biodiversity? Human rights? All water under the bridge. To avoid falling out of favour after the change of government in the USA, they have abandoned these goals virtually overnight.

The shockwaves that US President Donald Trump and his dubious advisors are sending out to Europe can make one shudder. Yet no one should be shocked by this. Especially not in the EU financial sector. When it comes to ESG, Europe has more expertise than the USA anyway. From this position, asset managers and banks should utilise the backlash on the other side of the Atlantic to differentiate themselves from their overpowering US competitors.

Even if Trump and his friends don't want to admit it, there is no doubt in the scientific community that climate change is a consequence of human activity. If the global community does not succeed in taking countermeasures, there is a risk of fatal consequences for prosperity and security around the world. This is not just the idle chatter of a few eco-minded people in the Old World, but a realisation that has long been accepted in many emerging countries that want to invest the proceeds from their above-average growth on the global capital markets.

This is precisely where the European sector should start. The high-profile withdrawal of the big US players from climate protection opens up a unique opportunity for them in the competition for sovereign wealth funds and other major investors in Asia and the Middle East. A clear commitment to sustainability and a product range based on comprehensible criteria will give them a Unique Selling Proposition in the new world order. And it is having a USP that is considered the most important ingredient for high growth rates in the kitchens of business strategists.