The financial industry is undergoing an awakening. It’s the revelation that businesses that prioritize people and the planet can be just as successful–or indeed, more successful–than firms that focus solely on their bottom lines.

That’s why the world’s biggest asset managers now evaluate companies on their Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance priorities, and allocate their capital accordingly.

The industry is emerging at the forefront of the effort to fight climate change and to develop environmentally sound and sustainable products and techniques in areas such as agriculture and waste control.

Joyn Bio in Boston, which is a joint venture between Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks, is engineering microbes that can extract nitrogen from the air and then deliver it to crops, obviating the need for traditional fertilizers’ energy-intensive manufacturing, transportation, and application.