Morgan Stanley Survey Finds Investor Enthusiasm for Sustainable Investing at an All-Time High
September 12 2019 - 11:30AM
Business Wire
- 85% of U.S. individual investors now express interest in
sustainable investing strategies.
- As the market matures, individual investors seek more product
choices that match their interests and impact measurement
capabilities.
More than eight in ten U.S. individual investors now express
interest in sustainable investing, while half take part in at least
one sustainable investing activity, according to a new survey
published today by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable
Investing. The third edition of the individual investor survey,
Sustainable Signals, examines the attitudes, perceptions and
behaviors of individual investors towards sustainable investing.
Following two prior Sustainable Signals individual investor
surveys, the findings show that interest and adoption of
sustainable investing has grown steadily since 2015.
“These findings reaffirm that sustainable investing has entered
the mainstream and is here to stay,” said Audrey Choi, Chief
Sustainability Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan
Stanley. “Increasingly, investors want to know what they own and
want those holdings to reflect their values.”
Results from the survey reveals four central themes in the
sustainable investing field:
- Investor interest and adoption continues to rise; 85%
are interested in sustainable investing.
- 95% of millennials now express interest in sustainable
investing.
- This trend also extends to adoption: 52% of the general
population and 67% of millennials take part in at least one
sustainable investing activity, such as investing in companies or
funds that target specific environmental or social outcomes.
- Investors want products that match their interests; 84%
want the ability to tailor their investments to their impact goals,
90% among millennials.
- The survey also found strong interest among investors for
tracking the impact return on their investments—84% wanted an
impact report, 90% among millennials.
- Investor conviction outweighs financial trade-off
concerns; 86% believe that corporate ESG practices can
potentially lead to higher profitability and may be better
long-term investments.
- 88% believe that it is possible to balance financial gains with
a focus on social and environmental impact.
- Nevertheless, perceptions of trade-offs linger, with 64%
agreeing that investors must choose between financial gains and
sustainability. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley’s recent report,
Sustainable Reality: Analyzing Risk and Returns of Sustainable
Funds, shows that there is no financial trade-off in the returns of
sustainable funds compared to traditional funds, and they
demonstrate lower downside risk.
- Investors want more product choices; 65% cited lack of
available financial products as a barrier to including sustainable
investing in their portfolios.
“Morgan Stanley has been a pioneer in the impact investing space
since we launched our Global Sustainable Finance Group over a
decade ago, and have since witnessed the rising interest and
adoption in the market over time,” said Matt Slovik, Head of the
Global Sustainable Finance Group at Morgan Stanley. “We’ve
responded to this market demand by creating innovative products,
such as the Morgan Stanley Impact Quotient, to empower our clients
to participate in ESG investing and are focused on improving
industry capabilities for portfolio customization and impact
measurement.”
The survey polled 800 U.S. Individual Investors with minimum
investable assets of $100,000. The survey also included an
oversample of 200 Millennials, aged 18-37. This survey builds on a
previous Morgan Stanley survey conducted in 2017 titled,
Sustainable Signals: New Data from the Individual Investor.
For more information, please see here.
About The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable
Investing
The Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing builds
scalable finance solutions that seek to deliver competitive
financial returns while driving positive environmental and social
impact. The Institute creates innovative financial products,
thoughtful insights and capacity building programs that help
maximize capital to create a more sustainable future. For more
information about the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable
Investing, visit www.morganstanley.com/sustainableinvesting.
About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services
firm providing investment banking, securities, wealth management
and investment management services. With offices in more than 41
countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including
corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more
information about Morgan Stanley, please visit
www.morganstanley.com.
About Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a global leader, provides
access to a wide range of products and services to individuals,
businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment
advisory services, financial and wealth planning, cash management
and lending products and services, annuities and insurance,
retirement and trust services. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is
a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.
Disclosures
This material was published on September 11, 2019 and has been
prepared for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation
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was not prepared by the Morgan Stanley Research Department and is
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The returns on a portfolio consisting primarily of
Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) aware investments may
be lower or higher than a portfolio that is more diversified or
where decisions are based solely on investment considerations.
Because ESG criteria exclude some investments, investors may not be
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