Some 29% of U.S.-based asset owners incorporate environmental, social and governance risk factors into their investment decision-making, said results of a Callan Associates “ESG Interest and Implementation Survey,” released Tuesday.
That result is up from 22% in 2013, the only other time Callan has done the survey.
Among types of asset owners, foundations had the highest rates of ESG adoption at 39% in 2015, up from 31% in 2013; endowments, 37%, up from 22%; public pension funds, 27%, up from 15%; and corporate retirement funds, 15%, up from 14%.
But corporate plans broken down by type show a wide divergence for 2015.
Corporate defined benefit plan use of ESG was 7%, while corporate defined contribution plans were at 24%. A breakout for 2013 was not available.
Among all asset owners, those with more than $20 billion in assets had a 35% ESG adoption rate in 2015.
Callan surveyed 240 asset owners, representing a combined $2.4 trillion in assets, in September, a month before the Department of Labor issued guidance allowing pension fund fiduciaries to consider ESG factors into their decision-making so long as they don’t compromise risk or return.
