Responsible investments “moving to mainstream”

Assets under management in European responsible investment funds rose by a quarter between 2012 and 2014.

The rise, from €238 billion to €373 billion, was tracked by research by consultancy KPMG and the Association of the Luxembourg Funds Industry (Alfi).

According to The European Responsible Investing Fund Survey 2015, the asset split is:

• €322.8 billion in cross-sectoral fund
• €31.8 billion in environmental funds
• €10.7 billion in social funds
• €6.7 billion in ethical funds

Institutional investors are helping turn responsible investing from niche to mainstream, say the report authors.

Jane Wilkinson, partner and head of sustainability at KPMG Luxembourg, says: “It is clear that asset managers today can no longer choose to ignore this market segment – they must be prepared to answer questions from their stakeholders around this topic. Failure to anticipate and act upon these questions is likely to result in chances missed and business lost.”