Governance tops global investors' sustainable investment priority lists

FTSE Russell research

The ‘G’ of ESG has become the top priority for investors in 2023, although there has been an overall drop in the implementation of sustainable investment generally, FTSE Russell has found.

Surveying more than 300 respondents, the firm's latest global asset owner survey found governance is a priority that has "significantly risen across all regions", increasing from one in three (33%) in 2022 to 54% of investors globally in 2023. For the EMEA region, climate and carbon-related assets has also increased as a priority for investors, jumping from 36% in 2022 to 73% this year. On the other hand, social themes are no longer as much of a focus for global investors, dropping from 73% last year to 37% in 2023. In EMEA, this has fallen from 65% to 40%. Pressure mounts on 'out ...