Fresh start? A green realism dawns for asset managers

Shifting attitudes to ESG issues

2020 is likely to be remembered as a year in which all of our perspectives were reset on a range of matters, and for the investment industry in particular, it seems that a sense of realism has finally dawned on ESG issues.

JPES Partners' third annual Asset Management Trends Report, which surveys changing perceptions among asset managers who collectively manage €8.6trn of assets, has shown that while ESG continues to grow in importance for investment firms, scepticism is also growing at an equal pace. Last year, when we asked asset managers how they would rank their organisations on the spectrum of ESG, we wondered who was greenwashing who, as two thirds of managers (65%) believed they were either pioneers or early adopters of the concept. Five funds to mark five years of the United Nations' Sustainable ...