Investors are increasingly attaching importance to sustainability, even if the return should suffer as a result – according to the results of a survey by Gothaer Asset Management. Up to now, this has been attributed to women in preference, but apparently the premises have shifted. .According to an investor survey carried out by Forsa for Gothaer Asset Management, men are more likely to cut back on returns than women if the investment is responsibly designed. This means that sustainability can no longer be considered a women’s issue in the investment industry. In fact, 57 percent of the men surveyed said they were prepared to lower their yield expectations in the interest of sustainability – for women, the figure was 50 percent.
Broken down to the individual ESG criteria, the following picture emerges: Men attach particular importance to Governance. Around 26 percent of the male participants particularly value the quality of Corporate Governance, compared with only 22 percent of the women surveyed. These focused on Environmental and Climate Protection to 47 percent, which in turn only applies to 41 percent of the men.
With regard to Social Justice, the genders were unanimous: 28 percent of them each chose this ESG criterion as the most important. Overall, however, it can be said that climate protection has arrived in the consciousness of investors. However, only around six percent of German investors invest in sustainably oriented funds.
The results of the survey show, however, that investment trends are changing in the wake of the extensive political debates on the relevant topics that our society led at all social levels: Sustainability targets are no longer just a theoretical quantity, but will have a significant influence on investor decisions in the future.
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