There isn’t one universally recognised term

Within the world of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing there are a range of terms used. Often covering very similar things, just in slightly different ways.

Rather than providing clarity through accurate labelling, with so many terms used it has become confusing. Our research showed that there was no one universally recognised term among investors.

Sustainable investing was the most globally recognised with 51% of investors familiar with the term. This was in comparison to ESG, a common term in the investment industry, where only 30% of investors recognised the term.

In our survey, 10 out of the 11 countries ranked sustainable investing top. The only exception was the Philippines where responsible investing came first, with sustainable investing coming a close second.