Many investors are still not embracing sustainable goals, according to the Institutional Investor Study 2018 by the global investment manager Schroders.
Around a third of investors said sustainability was less important than strategic asset allocation, fund manager track record, anticipated return and risk tolerance, Schroders said in a press release.
“This study highlights that sustainability is going to increasingly sit alongside institutional investors’ more long-standing investment priorities, although there still remain barriers to overcome to achieve this in the near term,” said Jessica Ground, Global Head of Stewardship at Schroders.
The survey included 650 investors who hold approximately $24 trillion in assets.
Around 77 per cent of respondents said they found it challenging to invest sustainably even though they wanted to put their money into assets that improve the environment, social problems and good governance. That was the same proportion as last year.
More than half said performance concerns were the biggest impediment to sustainable investing, an increase of 7 pe rcent compared to last year. Other respondents were concerned about the lack of transparency and difficulty measuring risk.
“There remains a gulf between institutional investors’ sustainable investment aspirations and the reality of how they prioritize these factors in their investment decision-making,” said Ground.
“Investors clearly recognise that investing sustainably is going to be more and more important going forward, but this approach is yet to sit at the heart of their investment process.”
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