Most corporate leaders understand that businesses have a key role to play in tackling urgent issues like climate change. But in practice, investors, portfolio managers, and analysts rarely engage corporate executives on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. But the perception that ESG just hasn’t gone mainstream in the investment community is outdated. The authors of this article recently interviewed 70 senior executives at 43 global institutional investing firms and found that ESG was almost universally top of mind. Of course, it’s no secret that investors have been voicing concern about sustainability for decades. But not until recently has this translated into action. Most of the investment leaders in this study described meaningful steps their companies were taking to integrate sustainability issues into their investing criteria. From this, it’s clear that corporate leaders will soon be held accountable by shareholders for ESG performance – if they aren’t already.

To read the full results of the research click here