Millennials and Women continue to drive growth in environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment, says Calvert Research and Management. This is an important development when considering Women now control up to 60 per cent of the wealth in the US. In addition, Millennials now stand to inherit trillions from their boomer parents, and both will heavily influence the ESG market for decades to come

Assets in ESG strategies continue to soar to around $23 trillion globally. Over the last decade, this represents an increase of more than 600%, and associated products continue to expand.

“In the 1980s, many investors kicked the tobacco habit from their portfolios. The early 2000s saw accounting scandals at Enron turn a laser focus on corporate governance issues,” Calvert said.

“Today, clean energy, human rights and corporate transparency concerns are among the issues drawing strong investor interest.”

Millennials and women exhibit a strong interest in advocacy, and now expect asset managers to use their proxy vote for issues like board diversity and human rights.

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