ESG fund assets climb to shy of USD 2 trillion boosted by record inflows
An in-depth report by Morningstar
Global sustainable flows reach all-time highs for the fourth quarter in a row. Continuing to dominate the space, Europe accounted for over 79% of these flows, while the U.S. accounted for 11.6% of it. Flows in the rest of the world clocked in at USD 17 billion for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Japan, and Asia combined.
The global sustainable fund universe encompasses open-end funds and exchange-traded funds globally that, by prospectus, factsheet, or other available resources, claim to have a sustainability objective and/or use binding ESG criteria for their investment selection. The sustainable funds group does not contain funds that employ only limited exclusionary screens such as controversial weapons, tobacco, and thermal coal, nor does it contain the growing number of funds that now formally integrate ESG considerations in a nondeterminative way for their investment selection. Money market funds, feeder funds, and funds of funds are excluded.
The global universe is divided here into three segments by domicile: Europe, United States, and Rest of World. There is more granular data available in this report for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and Japan. China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea are grouped because of their relatively low assets. This report examines recent activity in the global sustainable fund universe and details regional flows, assets, and launches for the first quarter of 2021.
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