Awareness of sustainable investing has increased among clients, with discussion shifting from the ‘what’ to the ‘how’, according to a wealth manager.
At Tribe Impact Capital, the head of adviser team Neil Hill said the wealth manager has seen a significant shift in the conversation around sustainable investing this year.
“Clients are less inclined to ask, ‘what is sustainable investing?’ and are instead asking to see real evidence of impact,” Hill said.
“This highlights the importance of working with a specialist in the impact investing space in order to avoid the risk of greenwashing, which can harm client outcomes.
“As we look ahead to 2024, we believe advisers will continue to blend sustainable portfolios with conventional ones. This mix caters to clients seeking both diversification and a gentle introduction to sustainable investments.”
Tertius Bonnin, an assistant portfolio manager at EQ Investors, likewise said there was a “growing consensus” among investors that integrating non-financial data into investment decisions helps both reduce risk and enables investors to “capture new opportunities”.
“One of the things [we are] most encouraged by is the widespread adoption of ESG integration, facilitated by the proliferation of data in recent years…
“With ESG now an emerging baseline for all investors, [we have] continued to push asset managers to launch products with increasingly ambitious intentions with regards to sustainability objectives.
“While for 10 years before the pandemic we saw a large number of ‘growth’ equity strategies being launched, we are pleased to see a wider range of new launches, both active and passive, that don’t just invest in different equity styles, but also across different asset classes. This has helped to build out the toolbox for many investors in the sustainable world.”
The discretionary fund manager launched its ‘Positive Impact’ model portfolios in 2012, with sustainable passive ‘Future Leaders’ portfolios and ‘Climate Action’ portfolios following in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
“Over this time, [we have] experienced both the depth and breadth of [our] investable universe increase at an exponential rate,” Bonnin said.
Chloe Cheung is a senior features writer at FT Adviser
