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Sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) has experienced impressive growth in the last two decades. However, the adoption of advanced SRI strategies that go beyond the mere exclusion of companies or asset classes has not kept pace with this expansion, a critical development regarding its potential impact on sustainability. For this reason, this study aims to identify the main drivers for the adoption of advanced sustainable and responsible investment practices by asset management companies to know why and which companies better advance the strengthening of SRI in the European financial market considering an original combination of different SRI drivers. To investigate which factors seem to be more decisive in adopting more sophisticated SRI practices, we first conducted a survey among fund management companies that manage and/or distribute investment funds in Europe. Second, we used logistic and multivariate regressions as analytical tools for testing the hypotheses. Results show that societal pressures and a formal corporate social responsibility policy are the main drivers for adopting advanced SRI practices by asset management companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable Investment funds are one of the most appropriate ways for the financial system to contribute to sustainable development. However, the effective contribution of Sustainable Investment funds can vary widely depending on their management strategy. This paper aims to analyze which strategies or combinations of them allow practitioners to better manage ESG risks in ESG portfolios within a complete framework consistent with global challenges that focus on sustainability and carbon risk scores. To analyze the differences between Sustainable Investment strategies, we adopt a parametric analysis of variance method. We find that, on average, funds that only apply negative filters achieve worse ESG risk scores and show worse carbon risk. In sum, this study contributes with more in‐depth knowledge about the different outcomes in terms of sustainability risks of the different SI strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of sustainable finance favors the appearance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agencies as providers of ESG information and tools for measuring the contribution of companies to sustainable development. This paper attempts to show whether assessment methods adopted by eight ESG agencies are consistent with the Integrative ESG Sustainable Value Framework proposed according to the literature and sustainable business models (SBMs) conceptualization. An exploratory research analyzes whether these methods are identifying and/or driving more SBMs that contribute to promote the creation of sustainable value, seeking to generate economic, social, and environmental value. Results indicate that ESG rating agencies identify the short‐term results in the internal organizational perspective mainly in the environmental dimension, whereas social aspects are emphasized from the external organizational perspective. However, ESG rating agencies are not driving a more SBMs that must integrate ESG criteria in a holistic way with a short‐term and long‐term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into the evaluation process of assets is a theme that is widely accepted among socially responsible investors. In this process, however, the integration of investors’ preferences has not been adequately developed. The challenge is to integrate the preferences of heterogeneous investors—not only conventional investors but also investors who are particularly sensitive to sustainability issues (socially responsible investors)—considering that socially responsible investors are not necessarily homogeneous. This paper attempts to address this challenge by developing a methodological approach based on an application of fuzzy multicriteria decision-making methods (MCDM) to integrate ESG investors’ preferences, as jointly considered. Because investors’ preferences may vary depending on which material aspects are considered within a sector, this study has been tested using clothing-sector data. Results confirm the usefulness of the methodological approach proposed for a proper generation of a ‘commercial solution’ that integrates the preferences of various investors and simultaneously is consistent with individually defined preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The debate surrounding the financial needs of investors and the impact on society of investment is considered to be an important research topic due to the growth of socially responsible financial markets. The main objective of this research is to study society's perception about socially responsible investing (SRI) and to identify investor's preferences regarding environmental, social and governance criteria, their real-life investment needs and the most relevant sustainable financial products. To examine society's perception of SRI, we conducted a field survey among Spanish investors. The results show that SRI is at an early stage and Spanish investors need more exact information regarding social, environmental, and governance criteria in order to invest in socially responsible companies and products. This paper offers some guidelines that could be used by Spanish institutions, managers and investors and by foreign managers when approaching the Spanish market, in order to promote the growth of socially responsible financial products. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]