Who’s interested in sustainability? The story goes: say impact, think Millennials and women. But it is not always the case. Indeed, brand new research from the financial services firm Morningstar found out that most investors, across ages and genders, have clear preferences for ESG investment products.
Generally speaking, 72% of the United States population expressed at least a moderate interest in sustainable investing and this suggests most people are potentially receptive to investing in sustainable options, falling into the “balanced,” “sustainability-minded,” or “sustainability-driven” categories.
When it comes to gender, results indicate that it isn’t a useful gauge for determining interest in sustainable investing as while women have a slightly stronger preference for sustainable investing than men, the difference between the weighted averages was small (mean for men = 53.53; mean for women = 59.08).
Looking into the stereotyped generational divide, when comparing the average sustainability preference scores of three generations, namely millennials, generation X, and baby boomers it emerged average preference score for millennials and gen X were statistically equivalent and that the statistical significance between baby boomers and millennials didn’t exist after including sociodemographic variables. In other words, findings showed a lack of substantial differences across generations.
In conclusion, researchers commented:
There’s an untapped market for sustainable investing that advisors may be able to reach (and retain) by offering sustainable investing options, and if advisors are relying on their clients to broach the topic of sustainable investing first, they may be losing out.
Find out more here.
Oliver* 
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