On another big topic, panelists agreed that investing with environmental, social and governance factors in mind is very complicated. No one set of ESG guidelines work for every investor, Ms. Burton said.
Emmanuel Roman, CEO of Pacific Investment Management Co. who spoke on the same panel, said "we don't know how it (a climate-friendly portfolio) will perform over time."
The hope is that a climate-friendly portfolio will perform as well as a traditional portfolio "but there are a lot of unknowns."
For example, with cold weather setting in, China will have to renew its reliance on coal, which may not be considered a climate-friendly decision, Mr. Roman said.
Guggenheim's Mr. Minerd said if there are certain investments investors do not want to make, it eliminates the manager's ability to invest in transition financing for companies that want to cut their carbon emissions.
Another speaker on the same panel, Martin Flanagan, president and CEO of Invesco, said his firm wants to be supportive in the energy transition period. However, drawing "a black line" reducing capital to certain companies is not a good idea, he said.
Mr. Flanagan said that the industry's views on ESG are still evolving. In three to five years from now, ESG factors will be part of the investment process rather than be considered a separate issue.
Speaking on a different panel, also on Monday, Anne Walsh, CIO of fixed income at Guggenheim Partners, said that it is a "poor practice" to ignore ESG as risk factors. But she said investors should not confuse considering ESG as an element of risk and "social responsibility investing which cuts certain types of investments such as in coal out of a portfolio.