Document summary
Responsible Investing has dramatically increased in volume and sophistication of methodologies in recent years. In a new report reviewing this investment discipline, WestLB predicts that the overall RI volume will further increase to €6,500bn by the end of 2011. This clearty suggests that RI does no longer represent a small niche market. The report highlights that we currently stand at stage 2.1 on the RI learning curve whereby the emphasis shifts towards the integration of ESG factors into investment decision-making and to active ownership and the move towards a consistent multi-asset approach to RI is emerging. A lot remains to be defined, e.g. on how to integrate ESG information and the implication in terms of balance sheets. This partly illustrates why level 3.0 - i.e. the level of final maturity of the RI discipline - has not been reached yet.