If 2014 was any guide, there is a shortening lag between when ESG issues emerge and when markets and regulators react. Whether it is shifting regulations targeting the ‘tax gap’, a new market benchmark to define green bonds, or the adoption of low carbon investment solutions, our 2014 ESG Trends to Watch report highlighted areas where institutional investors showed growing appetite to address longer term risks and opportunities.
We head into the new year with the backdrop of swooning oil prices and (re)newed geopolitical faultlines, juxtaposed against a return to growth in the US and emergence of the next generation of tech darlings. Investors, companies, policymakers, and NGOs anticipate the upcoming climate talks in Paris with an equal measure of hope and fear. In this cacophony, which ESG trends will be most top?of?mind among investors in 2015?