NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, September 6, 2019

By Hazel Bradford

Institutional investors, particularly those in North America, are still in the early stages of integrating ESG investments into their portfolios, according to a global study released Wednesday by CoreData Research.

The London-based organization surveyed 800 institutional investors with a collective $16 trillion in assets under management, including pension funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, private banks, insurance companies and money managers in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia, during the second quarter.

Overall, only 37% are considered ESG embedders, with a high degree of corporate engagement, and sustainable and impact investing. The majority, 52%, are early stage adopters using a combination of negative screening, positive screening and investment decision integration.

Only 11% of the investors surveyed reported no use of ESG considerations, CoreData found.

Photo courtesy of John Twohig.