Companies failing to act on ESG issues risk losing investors, finds new PwC survey

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors increasingly drive

investment strategies, and new research from PwC finds ESG has now become a make-or-break consideration for leading investors globally. Almost half of investors surveyed, 49%, express willingness to divest from companies that aren’t taking sufficient action on ESG issues. More than half, 59%, also say lack of action on ESG issues makes it likely they would vote against an executive pay agreement, while fully a third say they have already taken this action. A large majority, 79%, say the way a company manages ESG risks and opportunities is an important factor in their investment decision making.

The PwC 2021 Global Investor ESG Survey, captures the views of 325 investors from around the world, primarily active asset managers and analysts with investment firms, investment banks or brokerage firms.

While most investors are likely to take action if companies are not doing enough to address ESG issues, most also say that they don’t want a company’s action on ESG to significantly, if at all, impact their investment returns. The vast majority, 81%, said they would accept no more than one percentage point less in investment returns for pursuit of ESG goals; nearly half, (49%), were unwilling to accept any reduction in returns. 

Nearly three-quarters (74%) said their decision-making would be better informed if companies applied a single set of ESG reporting standards. A similar number (73%) say it’s important to be able to compare ESG performance across companies.

Read more about the Survey here