As reported by ESG News, the most recent Voice of the Asset Owner Survey from Morningstar indicates that, compared to a year ago, 64% of participants now consider environmental concerns to be more financially significant. This is an increase from 52% in 2023. This pattern demonstrates how the investing community is becoming more conscious of and gives priority to climate concerns over social and governance issues.

According to the poll, 55% of asset owners identified climate change as their main environmental concern, particularly the move toward net zero emissions. This worry reflects both the growing materiality of climate change in financial decision-making processes and the urgent need to address it. This was highlighted by a member in a U.S. business pension fund, who said, "Climate is the lead and that's because the data that's available is better."

The paper also explores the institutional investment methods' larger context of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects. Surprisingly, 80% of respondents believe that their fiduciary obligations are positively or neutrally impacted by ESG factors. This viewpoint is consistent with the increasing acknowledgement that meeting fiduciary obligations includes attending to ESG elements, especially environmental concerns.

Asset owners actively engage with ESG aspects rather than only contemplating them in a passive manner. Approximately 78% of respondents think that the best way to influence ESG policy is through active ownership and direct involvement with portfolio firms. Next are engagement in collective efforts such as Climate Action 100+ and public policy. Although proxy voting is still considered an influential instrument, direct interaction is thought to have a greater impact.

There is still a need for better ESG data quality in spite of these developments. In order to improve sustainable investing processes, asset owners demand that ESG data be more relevant, accurate, and standardized. Ratings and indices were not as useful as ESG data, which was cited by a substantial 43% of respondents as the most important instrument for putting ESG plans into practice.