The European Sustainable and Responsible Investment market has expanded to approximately €5 trillion assets under management, despite the financial crisis, Eurosif’s 2010 European SRI Study revealed.

The ongoing financial crisis combined with disasters such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have convinced many investors to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues into investment decisions.

The study highlights the scale of the European SRI Market as well as European and national trends across nineteen countries, including for the first time the Baltic States, Poland, Greece and Cyprus.

Based on the self-reporting of asset managers and self-managed asset owners, the study reveals that the total SRI AuM have increased from €2.7 trillion to €5 trillion as of 31 December 2009. This represents a spectacular growth of about 87 per cent since the data was previously collected two years before.

To simplify the complex issue of SRI, Eurosif uses the terms Core SRI and Broad SRI. Core SRI is estimated at €1.2 trillion and consists of norms and values based exclusions and different types of positive screens. Broad SRI encompasses simple exclusion, engagement and integration approaches, and is currently estimated at €3.8 trillion.

Bonds are now the favoured asset class of SRI investors, representing 53 per cent of all SRI assets, while equities have dropped down to 33 per cent. Microfinance funds are also beginning to generate interest and are likely to grow quickly as investors demand integration of ESG criteria into more diverse areas.

Jean-Claude Bassien, chairman and CEO at Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux, commented: “As this survey demonstrates, despite the crisis, decision makers are taking extra-financial criteria into account at an impressive pace. We hope this will convince all companies to further improve both their disclosure and their performance on ESG related issues in order to meet the ever-increasing investor expectations.”

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