Fitch Learning Research Report Reveals How environmental, social and governance Investing is Likely to Develop in 2021 and Beyond

The growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing is one of the most substantial shifts in the financial world for a generation, according to a research report published today by @FitchLearning, entitled Forthcoming Developments in ESG Investing and Credit.

Fitch Learning conducted an interactive survey amongst 464 attendees from 169 global companies at its Forthcoming Developments in ESG Investing and Credit webinar on 17 March 2021 to gain their collective insights into this business critical topic.

Report Highlights

This report examines how sustainable investing is likely to develop throughout 2021 and beyond, with a focus on the driving forces behind the ESG movement, the regulatory horizon and what training needs this will place on organizations within the financial sector:

• How organizations integrate ESG into standard processes will have a significant impact on how potential investors view them, how they will be evaluated by financial analysts and even their creditworthiness.
• Regulation is likely to be at the forefront of the ESG stage this year – out of the people surveyed, 36% stated that they require a standardization of ESG data disclosure.
• In 2021, innovation will broaden access to ESG financing into new and different sectors/asset classes.
• 45% of the people surveyed consider reputational risk as the most important risk facing their business.
• 33% of respondents indicated that broadening awareness and understanding of what ESG investing really means is the most important training objective for their business.

Commenting on the report, Andreas Karaiskos, CEO, Fitch Learning, said:

“I am pleased to share our latest research report to shed light on the increasingly complex area of sustainable investing. ESG is and will continue to become a progressively key factor for all businesses around the world to consider, and our research has shown that organizations really need to put their ESG training requirements at the top of their lists now. As we move through 2021 and beyond, the implications of disclosure requirements and the public attention surrounding this issue means that business leaders may increasingly be judged on how well they handle their organizations environmental and social concerns as part of good corporate governance, and we will all witness first-hand the impact it has on investors’ decisions, their financial evaluations and creditworthiness.”

The full report is available to download here.