Interest in sustainable investing remains strong across Europe. Numbers from Morningstar show that at the end of 2022 the European sustainable fund universe was just over $2trn (83% of the global sustainable total) in terms of assets and more than 5,300 funds (76% of the global sustainable total).
Many UK workplace pension funds have been considering and implementing sustainable/ESG investing to an increasing extent over the last few years, and later in this document we look at exactly what some of the default funds are doing in this space.
We will also discuss what ESG investing is, as well as the different levels of ESG investing; look at the performance of ESG funds over the last few years and some of the issues around measuring this; mention the main benefits of stewardship, voting and engagement; list and outline some of the main global ESG initiatives; and provide an update on both UK and EU regulation.