The adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria by institutional investors has reached a tipping point in the last few years, with more and more investors declaring their belief in investing sustainably and responsibly.

In fact, it is now probably accurate to talk about ESG investing as being an investment megatrend such is its global reach and scale.

Consider some of the recent signs of the widespread adoption of ESG investing. In January 2020, Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest investment firm, BlackRock, wrote that climate change has become a defining factor for companies’ long-term prospects in his annual letter to company chief executives. As BlackRock manages over $7 trillion in assets, much of it in passive exchange traded funds (ETFs), its investment views carry weight and it now sees integrating ESG concerns, notably over climate change risk, as being good investment practice in today’s world. Fink’s letter commented: “Our investment conviction is that sustainability- and climate-integrated portfolios can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors”.