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June 27, 2019 at 12:00 PM
Investors are more interested than ever in how publicly traded companies handle environmental, social and governance issues, but many say they lack the information to make ESG investment decisions and their advisors often offer little help.
Those are some of the major findings of a recent Natixis survey on ESG investment issues, which essentially combines the results of four previous global surveys of close to 12,500 individual investors, financial professionals, institutional investors and professional fund buyers. About 12.5% of those surveyed are from North America, primarily the United States.
Three-quarters of individual investors worldwide — 71% in America — say it’s important to align their investments with their personal values and ethics. About 50% say they do just that, but only about half say they have the information needed to choose those investments.
An even greater percentage of financial advisors — 68% globally and 62% U.S. — say they would be more likely to recommend ESG products to clients if there were better data and reporting on these investments. Even more U.S. advisors, 71%, worry that investments labeled “green” are not genuinely sustainable investments, although 73% say the diversity of ESG strategies is improving.
Despite the reportedly growing interest in ESG investments among retail investors, less than 30% of U.S. advisors say their clients are asking about such investments and only 32% say more clients are asking more about ESG investments now than they did a year ago.
Moreover, just 17% of U.S. advisors say they need to improve their ability to understand ESG and explain it to clients. “Advisors may be slow to recognize an important investment trend,” according to the report. “Many advisors in the U.S. actually have a limited view of what ESG investing means … Financial intermediaries themselves need a better, clearer understanding of ESG.”
The report notes that “it appears that ESG should be a central point in the investment discussions across the globe, but a deeper look at the challenges identifies an information gap that may be impeding more widespread adoption.”
A majority — 61% — of institutional investors globally report they currently use ESG strategies within their portfolios and 56% believe alpha can be found in them. (Fifty-nine percent of advisors globally believe ESG strategies provide alpha.)
