Eurosif: European sustainable investment market outperforming the mainstream

The European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif) has revealed that sustainable investment in Europe has grown by almost 23% between 2011 and 2013, while impact investment went up by 132%, outpacing mainstream investment that stood at 21.7%

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Sustainable Responsible Investment (SRI) has grown at an impressive rate over the past three years across Europe, according to the latest Eurosif’s investment study.

With the broad European investment market growing by 21.7%, both sustainable and impact investing trends rose by 23% and 132% respectively, with impact investment confirmed as the fastest growing sector, worth around €20 billion (£15.7bn).

Investment using exclusion criteria – which take out of consideration certain industries considered unethical, such as fossil fuels, pornography or tobacco – grew by 91%.

Engagement and voting policies have grown by 86%, reaching €3.3 trillion (£2.6tn), versus €1.8 trillion (£1.4tn) in 2011, with half of the growth coming from the UK, while integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors also went up by 65%.

EUROSIF’s executive director Francois Passant commented, “The continuous growth of SRI practices in Europe signals a positive change in attitudes toward stewardship and the materiality of Environmental, Social and Governance matters.

“Discussions are shifting from whether SRI makes sense or not from a financial return standpoint, to how its tangible impacts can be measured. Increasingly, investors and other industry stakeholders will push the market in this direction, bringing it to a new level of maturity.”

Earlier this week, business organisation CBI reported on the recovery of the UK’s financial services sector, with the chief executive of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) Simon Howard telling Blue & Green Tomorrow that the sustainable finance sector was seeing “very encouraging signs”.

Photo: Flavio Takemoto via freeimages

Further reading:

Good Money Week goes live with new website

The sustainable investor is no longer marginal

Breaking the eight myths of sustainable and responsible investment

Financial services report recovery as sustainable investment message spreads

The Guide to Sustainable Investment 2014