Responsible Investing Is Hot: ESG AUM Hits $21 Trillion

Responsible investing is going mainstream according to HSBC's inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing handbook.

According to HSBC, ESG-based investing has grown from close to zero a decade ago, to an estimated 30% of professionally-managed assets globally today. This works out at around $21 trillion of assets under management. What's more, 40% of the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) now reports meaningful ESG metrics to investors on a regular basis -- up from just 5% a decade ago.

And investing responsibly is not only good for the state of the planet but according to HSBC, companies with significantly improving ESG indicators outperformed those who lagged by 26pp since 2008. So, by investing responsibly, you could also improve your returns.