APAC investors says ESG products need to deliver on promises

Oksana Patron

13 September 2022

Although APAC investors have continued to show a strong interest in sustainable investing, more than a third (36%) have said they feel there was a trade-off between investing sustainably and achieving a good return.

The annual Fidelity’s survey, conducted with more than 12,000 respondents across six Asia Pacific markets including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Australia, found that 46% of investors said a clearer definition of what qualified as sustainable investing was required as the current definition was viewed as very subjective.

Respondents also indicated providers lacked regulatory oversight in relation to the promises they had made, with the greatest level of concern over the lack of clear guidelines reported in China and Singapore, the two markets which also had the highest level of interest in sustainable investing, according to the survey.

As far as environmental, social, governance (ESG)-related issues were concerned, the investors were most keen to make a positive change with a number one focus being climate change, followed by sustainable consumption and broader social issues.

At the same time, more than half (54%) of respondents expressed their desire to use their money to make a positive change in the world, with 56% believing that investors have the power to change corporate behaviours through their own investing actions.

The results this year continued the trend seen in 2021, with APAC investors becoming increasingly positive towards the concept of sustainable investing, with 60% of retail investors in the Asia Pacific region recognising the importance of sustainable investing.

“Sustainable investing is becoming a mainstream investment theme across the APAC region and we are encouraged to see retail investors’ interest in sustainability continue to grow,” Jenn-Hui Tan, Global Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investing at Fidelity International, said.

“Clearly, there are concerns about how ESG-related financial products are living up to their promises, which the financial services industry needs to address. (…) To further address questions of reliability, we believe broader industry collaboration on investor education and fostering a consistent sustainable investing framework will be critical.”