German investors prioritise climate protection when it comes to selecting funds for investment, according to a survey on responsible investing conducted by BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
In a poll of 1 000 retail investors in Germany1, 64% said environmental or climate protection came to mind first when considering sustainable and responsible investing (SRI).
The survey showed investors are becoming increasingly aware of the issues central to responsible investing. A recent survey by Eurosif2 found 22% of retail investors in 13 different countries were now interested in SRI investments compared with 3.4% in 2014.
Two-thirds of German investors questioned said they were confident that the returns on SRI investments would be just as good as those from conventional investments.
In fact, 74% agreed with the statement “It’s important to me that I invest my money in things I care about” and 79% said they expected their financial advisor to propose sustainable investments.
In the past, SRI investing focused on equity market investments, but with the increasingly popular use of green bonds3 and a wide range of SRI-friendly bond funds, the number of options available to investors has grown.
Even sustainable money market funds are becoming popular. In our view, this is not surprising given that many European investors prioritise security. Indeed, 64% of Germans say security is their most important criteria when selecting investments.
For more on SRI investing, click hereFor more details on the February 2017 survey in Germany, go to this article on our Investors’ Corner blog: Survey: ecological and ethical standards do matter to investors
The value of investments and the income they generate may go down as well as up and it is possible that investors will not recover their initial outlay.
