Schroders Global Investor Study 2019: People’s sustainable investment ambitions fail to reflect their actions
The proportion of people globally who are investing sustainably is significantly lagging behind those who are interested and would like to invest, indicating that a gap exists between investors’ intentions and their tangible actions, Schroders Global Investor Study 2019 has found.
The survey of over 25,000 investors across 32 locations around the world has found that 16% invest in sustainability, compared to 32% who are interested and would like to invest this way.
Investors in Japan (26%) were the lowest proportion globally who either already invest or want to invest sustainably, while the highest was in India (73%). Investors in Switzerland position themselves somewhere in between: Nearly every second investor always consider sustainability factors when selecting an investment product (49%).
Investors globally who identify themselves as being expert/advanced were more likely to invest sustainably. Just under a quarter (23%) said they invest sustainably, compared to 11% of self-identified intermediate investors and 8% of beginners.
“Source: Schroders, Global data”
At global level, investing sustainably also ranked mid-table in terms of overall financial priorities. Investors instead cited the need to avoid losing money, meeting total return expectations, generating an expected level of income and reasonable fees as more important factors.
The vast majority of investors in India (87%), China (80%), Thailand (77%) and Indonesia (76%) said they always consider sustainability when investing. This compares with 40% of investors in Canada and Denmark, as well as 41% in The Netherlands, countries that, arguably, have had a focus on sustainability for longer, indicating that it is perhaps implicit to investing.
Almost two-thirds of global investors (60%) stated that changes to regulations encouraging them to invest more in sustainable investments would motivate them to do so, while 60% also said that independent ratings confirming that the fund takes a sustainable approach would also drive them to invest this way.
Andreas Markwalder, CEO Schroder Investment Management (Switzerland) AG, commented: “Schroders has a strong belief in the value that sustainable investment can create in society. Following this creed, Schroders has recently acquired a majority stake in BlueOrchard, a leading impact investor. Both companies strongly believe that we can purposefully affect positive change through sustainable investment.”
Adrian Nösberger, CEO Schroder & Co Bank AG, added: “Investors will be left vulnerable to the global impacts caused by issues such as climate change. It is, thus, important that asset managers factor this into their investment strategy. The broader financial industry along with policymakers must ensure that sustainable investment criteria are clearly defined and transparent. This is a unique opportunity for the Swiss finance centre. ”
Swiss Investors are particularly sensitive
The Schroders Global Investor Study also found that while almost two-thirds of investors worldwide (63%) believe climate change will have at least some impact on their investing but one-third (33%) feel that it will have very little or no impact. In contrast, more than a third of Swiss investors (36%) expect a significant impact on their investments because of climate change. In Europe, less than a quarter (23%) agree with this.
Almost three-quarters of investors globally (71%) believe manmade climate change is a real phenomenon that is impacting the world, including 40% who believe this impact will be ‘significant’. Again, investors in Switzerland are more sensitive to climate issues. Every second investor (50%) thinks that climate change is a real phenomenon with a significant impact on the environment.
At a country level, the highest number of doubters were investors in the US, with 7% saying they believe manmade climate change is not a real phenomenon.
Réservé exclusivement aux investisseurs et aux conseillers professionnels.
Ce document exprime les opinions du gérant ou de l'équipe citée et ne représente pas nécessairement les opinions formulées ou reflétées dans d’autres supports de communication, présentations de stratégies ou de fonds de Schroders.
Ce document n’est destiné qu’à des fins d’information et ne constitue nullement une publication à caractère promotionnel. Il ne constitue pas une offre ou une sollicitation d’achat ou de vente d’un instrument financier quelconque. Il n’y a pas lieu de considérer le présent document comme contenant des recommandations en matière comptable, juridique ou fiscale, ou d’investissements. Schroders considère que les informations contenues dans ce document sont fiables, mais n’en garantit ni l’exhaustivité ni l’exactitude. Nous déclinons toute responsabilité pour toute opinion erronée ou pour toute appréciation erronée des faits. Aucun investissement et/ou aucune décision d’ordre stratégique ne doit se fonder sur les opinions et les informations contenues dans ce document.
Les performances passées ne sont pas un indicateur fiable des performances futures. Les cours des actions ainsi que le revenu qui en découle peuvent évoluer à la baisse comme à la hausse et les investisseurs peuvent ne pas récupérer le montant qu’ils ont investi.
Les prévisions contenues dans le présent document résultent de modèles statistiques, fondés sur un certain nombre d'hypothèses.
Elles sont soumises à un degré élevé d'incertitude concernant l'évolution de certains facteurs économiques et de marché susceptibles d'affecter la performance future réelle. Les prévisions sont fournies à titre d'information à la date d'aujourd'hui. Nos hypothèses peuvent changer sensiblement au gré de l'évolution possible des hypothèses sous-jacentes notamment, entre autres, l'évolution des conditions économiques et de marché. Nous ne sommes tenus à l'obligation de vous communiquer des mises à jour ou des modifications de ces prévisions au fur et à mesure de l'évolution des conditions économiques, des marchés, de nos modèles ou d'autres facteurs.
Ce document est produit par Schroder Investment Management (Europe) S.A., succursale française, 1, rue Euler, 75008 Paris, France.