Globally, sustainable investment assets have increased in value by 25 percent since 2014.

According to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance's Global Sustainable Investment Review 2016, "there are now $22.89 trillion of assets being professionally managed under responsible investment strategies."

The sustainable investment market has grown fastest in Japan during this two-year span, with Australia/New Zealand and Canada also showing particularly rapid growth.

Europe experienced 12 percent growth from 2014-16 and has a total globally sustainable asset base of $12.04 trillion. In the U.S., Impact Economy investing is up 33 percent in the time span to $8.72 trillion. Canada experienced a 49 percent increase to $1.09 billion.

The report defines sustainable investing as "an investment approach that considers environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in portfolio selection and management.... Sustainable investment encompasses the following activities and strategies:

  • Negative/exclusionary screening
  • Positive/best-in-class screening
  • Norms-based screening
  • Integration of ESG factors
  • Sustainability themed investing
  • Impact/community investing and
  • Corporate engagement and shareholder action."

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