An overwhelming majority of fund managers in the US sees ESG as an important part of their work even as political attacks against the investing form grow increasingly targeted, according to a fresh survey.
“ESG still enjoys commanding support among US fund managers,” the Index Industry Association said in a report published Tuesday that’s based on data gathered by Opinium. Of the US-based chief financial and investment officers, as well as portfolio managers who were surveyed, 88% said incorporating environmental, social and governance metrics “has become more of a priority over the last year.”
The findings show that US asset managers are “pushing ahead” with ESG “despite a series of political headwinds,” according to the association.
Investors and businesses in the US have faced an increasingly tense political backdrop, as the Republican Party lambastes ESG, dubbing it “woke” and “anti-American.” According to the GOP, ESG puts a political agenda ahead of financial returns, and lawmakers and attorneys general have threatened legal action against firms that use it.
But analyses by researchers at Morningstar Inc. and Barclays Plc, among others, have found that ESG funds outperform their conventional peers over the mid- to long-term. They also offer better risk-adjusted returns, according to the research.
The commitment of US fund managers to ESG is in keeping with a broader global trend, the survey showed.
“Despite significant economic volatility and political frictions, asset managers in France, Germany, the UK and US are ramping up their ESG investments,” it said.
The survey found that 81% of asset managers say ESG has become either more or much more of a priority to their investment strategy over the past 12 months, broadly unchanged from 2022. According to the IIA, “ESG investing remains on course to reach almost half of portfolios” in the coming two to three years, and then exceed 63% in the next decade.
The survey was conducted in April and May, spanning a total of roughly 300 CFOs, CIOs and portfolio managers evenly spread across the US, Britain, Germany and France. Most of the participants oversee more than €10 billion ($11 billion) in client assets, while roughly a tenth oversee more than €500 billion.
