Demos against climate change, debates about phasing out coal or CO2 tax - environmental issues are playing an increasingly important role. Apparently this also applies to investments. Sustainable investments are booming.
Berlin (dpa / tmn) - Sustainable investment is becoming increasingly popular in Germany: private investors invested 18.3 billion euros in corresponding products last year, as the market report of the Forum Sustainable Investments (FNG) shows, which was published on Monday. This corresponds to a growth rate of 96 percent. In 2018, this total was around 9.4 billion euros.
In total, according to the report, just over 269 billion euros were invested in investment products in 2019, which explicitly set environmental, social and governance criteria in the investment conditions. According to the FNG, this was more than ever before. The volume increased by 23 percent compared to the previous year. The proportion of sustainable funds in the overall market is around 5.4 percent.
According to the FNG, reasons for the increased interest of private investors include a changed social climate and increased environmental awareness. Reporting on sustainable investments as part of various European measures to promote this type of investment would also have contributed to this.
Most funds work with exclusion criteria
The use of exclusion criteria is still of particular importance when designing sustainable funds and mandates. They use 99 percent of the investment products recorded in the market report to exclude controversial issuers from investing. In most cases, the areas covered by the UN Global Compact are corruption and bribery, labor law violations, environmental degradation and human rights violations.
The use of the so-called best-in-class approach has also risen sharply. Assets managed using this investment strategy increased by 110 percent and reached EUR 95.9 billion at the end of 2019.
FNG market report
Factsheet on sustainable investment in Germany