More than half of European institutional investors are now utilising consultancy services. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters are a part of this trend as they begin to form a piece of the investment consultants’ agenda due to growing investor demand, which is mostly driven by corporate pension funds, public pension funds and family offices and high net worth individual investors. This study shows that service development relating to responsible investment (RI) is a recent phenomenon among investment consultants but one that is rapidly growing. The survey uncovered the emergence of boutique firms that are focused completely on RI advice and found that service development will remain a key facet to monitor as it is unclear how newer or established firms will best respond to the growing demand for ESG advisory services. It also found that there are a few important barriers to address and hence push the ESG advisory market forward even faster than predicted today.
