This is the second issue of a recently launched quarterly CIO research series focusing on sustainable investing (SI).

The first issue dealt with the question on how investors are incorporating sustainability into portfolios, and the different approaches (e.g. integration, exclusion, impact investment).

Today's report highlights growing trends in favor of the integration approach, namely:

  • Nearly 1400 organizations have agreed to embed the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment into their investment decision making and ownership practices. Half of these signed up in the past five years.
  • Thanks to initiatives such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), sustainability data on individual companies is growing more meaningful and comparable.
  • Sustainability factors mostly affect the value of intangible assets, which are now the main determinant of companies' worth. E.g. their value as a % of the worth of the S&P 500 is more than 80% compared with less than 20% in the mid-1970s.