Investors See ‘Material Risk’ in Ignoring ESG

Friday, June 14, 2019

By Christine Idzelis

Large investors believe ignoring environmental, social, and governance criteria when allocating capital would imperil their portfolios, according to a UBS Group survey.

Asset owners expect environmental factors will become more pertinent to their investments than traditional financial criteria over the next five years, with more than 80 percent indicating it would be a “material risk” not to integrate ESG factors, UBS Asset Management said Tuesday. In a study with news and research provider Responsible Investor, the firm probed more than 600 investors with about €19 trillion (about $21.5 trillion) of assets globally.

Seventy-eight percent of asset owners representing pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds are already integrating ESG into their investment processes, with Europe being the most active region, the survey found.

Photo courtesy of Jutta Benzenberg.

Source: Institutional Investor (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Investing
Tags
climate change, ESG, impact investing