The number of alternative investment funds incorporating socially responsible investing grew in 2011, according to a report from the US SIF Foundation.
According to the report, 375 alternative investment funds with $80.9 billion in investments incorporated environmental, social and governance criteria at the beginning of this year, compared with 346 funds managing $69.8 billion at the start of 2010.
Private equity, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds were tracked for the foundation's “Sustainability Trends in Alternative Investments” report and use a broad range of approaches to ESG criteria.
About $68.9 billion of the funds' assets at the start of 2011 incorporated environmental criteria; $48.8 billion, social criteria; and $37.5 billion, governance criteria. In 2011, according to the report, 73% of funds featured overlaps of multiple criteria.
