Schroder’s Global Investor Study, commissioned in April 2020, presents the results of an independent online survey of over 23,000 people from 32 locations around the world. The findings suggest that people around the world are increasingly becoming engaged with sustainable investing and are willing to learn more about the topic to become conscious investors. The survey shows people are attracted to a sustainable investing approach that incorporates environmental, social and governance considerations, and believe this approach can lead to favourable investment outcomes. Additionally, the report identified several obstacles that are delaying widespread adoption of sustainability investing that can be resolved through the spread of accurate and transparent sustainable finance material, and by amplifying the sustainable investing conversation.

The report highlights that around the world there is a rising interest and attraction towards sustainable investing, and it will be up to the investment industry to inform, develop and offer solutions to maintain pace with this growing sentiment. A crucial step for the industry will be to ensure that information relating to sustainable investment products is accurate, transparent and to establish common standards or definitions of sustainability. This may be achieved through the help of a third party that regulates and confirms the credibility of sustainable investment products. Furthermore, these actions will help minimise the spread of misinformation as that will be critical considering many investors acquire their investment knowledge through their own research. Consequently, if the industry can achieve the above actions, investors around the world with varying levels of financial knowledge can feel more confident about the sustainability of an investment.

Investors globally are increasingly concerned with environmental, social, and corporate issues and the actions needed to mitigate or solve them. On the environmental side, the mitigation of climate change is viewed by investors around the world as being a priority concern and a shared global responsibility. Governments, individuals, companies, and investment managers are all believed to play a critical role in mitigating climate change to varying degrees by attending to environmental areas of concern such as renewable energy and the level of carbon emissions. Similarly, investors globally believe companies have a responsibility to corporate and social issues like community impact and the treatment of staff. Whilst these investor concerns are gradually spreading around the world, the report underlines that more action from the investment industry is possible to reinforce the positive attitude and interest people have towards sustainable investing.

1. The rising interest and attraction towards sustainable investing displayed by people around the world presents an opportunity for the financial industry to inform, develop and offer solutions relating to sustainable investing.
2. The report confirms that people need more accurate and transparent information to have confidence in the sustainability of their investment approach. People have stated they want confirmation from an independent third party (34%) or the investment provider themselves (33%) of the sustainability of an investment.
3. The decision people make to invest in accordance with their morals is relatively profound as only 23% of people would be willing to invest against their beliefs for higher returns. Further, people in this 23% stated they would need an average return of 21% to not feel any guilt with their investment.
4. Almost half (47%) the population favour sustainable investments because of their impact on the environment. A further 42% expressed the prospect of higher returns as their reason for favouring sustainable investments. This evidences that many people believe they do not have to sacrifice higher returns when choosing to invest sustainably.
5. A majority of people (65%) are eager to discuss and learn more about sustainable investing with their financial advisers. However, there is more to be done about making this conversation on sustainable funds a priority and regular discussion for both advisers and investors.
6. People globally believe there is a shared responsibility for mitigating climate change between governments, regulators, inter-governmental organisations (e.g., UN), companies, individuals, pressure groups, non-government organisations, investment managers, and shareholders. Although the distribution of responsibility given by people is varied, this reaffirms that the mitigation of climate change is a shared global responsibility.
7. Individuals are contributing more to a sustainable society through their actions, considerations, and investments. The results of the survey indicate that people’s investing behaviours are changing in the positive direction with 47% of people choosing to invest in sustainable funds rather than those that ignore sustainability factors – an increase of 5% since 2018.
8. A majority of people (58%) think investment managers should withdraw funds from the fossil fuel industry. In contrast, 14% believe investment managers should stay invested in the fossil fuel industry until it becomes unprofitable.
9. People believe companies should prioritise and focus their actions on social responsibility (70%), attention to environmental issues (67%), treatment of staff (66%), closing the gender pay gap (59%) and diversity of the company’s workforce (52%). This illustrates that most people expect companies to prioritise their actions relating to social responsibility both internally and externally (e.g. impact on communities and society) and environmental issues (e.g. emissions, use of renewable energy etc.).
10. There are information gaps associated with sustainable investing that will need to be solved for the conversation to go mainstream. This presents an opportunity for those involved in the financial industry to fill those gaps and ensure people around the world continue to receive sustainable investment information.