ESG investing has become a large, varied market rather than a single fund category. The figures below show how sustainable assets were distributed globally in 2022, how EU retail ESG funds behaved in 2023, and how the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) signatory network stood at 31 March 2025. Definitions and coverage differ by source, so each comparison keeps its measurement period and scope visible.
Contents
- Global scale and trajectory
- Regional assets and market shares
- How ESG assets are allocated
- Regional strategy preferences
- EU fund flows and market position
- Costs and performance in EU retail funds
- Responsible-investor participation and stewardship
Global scale and trajectory
The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) reported US$22.838 trillion in global sustainable investment assets in 2016. Its total was US$30.683 trillion in 2018 and US$35.301 trillion in 2020. The 2022 figure was US$30.321 trillion. These figures come from the Global Sustainable Investment Review 2022.
The sequence should be read as a reported series, not as a perfectly like-for-like growth curve. GSIA uses sustainable investment as an inclusive term for approaches that consider ESG factors, and its methodologies differ by region. The report also says its 2022 assets are generally as of 31 December 2021, with Japan measured as of 31 March 2022.
For the covered non-US regions, sustainable investment assets increased from US$18.220 trillion in 2020 to US$21.921 trillion in 2022, a 20% increase. In 2022, sustainable investments represented 37.9% of total assets across those covered non-US regions. When the United States was included in the covered-region comparison, the share was 24.4%.
The denominator also expanded in the comparison that includes the United States: total assets under management across the covered regions were US$98.416 trillion in 2020 and US$124.487 trillion in 2022. That broader asset base helps explain why a sustainable-investment share and a sustainable-asset total can move differently.
Regional assets and market shares
Europe was the largest regional pool in GSIA’s 2022 comparison, with US$14.054 trillion in sustainable investment assets and 46% of global sustainable investment assets. The United States held US$8.400 trillion under the report’s revised US methodology, representing 28% of the global total.
Japan held US$4.289 trillion, or 14% of global sustainable investment assets. Australia and New Zealand held US$1.220 trillion, or 8%, while Canada held US$2.358 trillion, or 4%.
| Region | 2022 sustainable assets | Share of global assets |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | US$14.054 trillion | 46% |
| United States | US$8.400 trillion | 28% |
| Japan | US$4.289 trillion | 14% |
| Australia and New Zealand | US$1.220 trillion | 8% |
| Canada | US$2.358 trillion | 4% |
The regional totals are useful for understanding market concentration, but they should not be treated as identical product universes. GSIA notes that regional methodologies differ, and specifically warns that the US 2022 comparison is affected by a revised methodology. The geography and reporting date therefore matter as much as the headline total.
How ESG assets are allocated
The largest reported sustainable-investment strategy in 2022 was corporate engagement and shareholder action, at US$8.053 trillion. ESG integration represented US$5.588 trillion, while negative or exclusionary screening represented US$3.840 trillion.
Other reported strategies were smaller in asset terms. Norms-based screening represented US$1.807 trillion. Sustainability-themed investing represented US$598 billion, and positive or best-in-class screening represented US$574 billion. Impact or community investing represented US$55 billion.
These categories describe approaches, and the same assets may be represented in more than one strategy category where a portfolio uses multiple approaches. They should not be added together as a unique global-fund total without a methodology that removes overlap.
The distribution also changed across reported years. ESG integration reached US$25.195 trillion in reported sustainable-investment strategy assets in 2020, compared with US$5.588 trillion for the 2022 strategy figure. Because the source’s coverage and regional reporting can differ between editions, this is a change in reported strategy assets, not proof that the underlying market lost a specific amount.
For leadership teams evaluating ESG investment claims, the practical distinction is material: engagement describes activity with investee companies, integration describes how ESG factors enter investment analysis, screening describes inclusion or exclusion rules, and impact or community investing identifies a narrower objective. Asset totals alone do not measure the intensity or outcome of each approach.
Regional strategy preferences
The United States had a strongly engagement-led reported mix in 2022. Corporate engagement and shareholder action accounted for 62% of reported sustainable-investment strategy assets. Negative or exclusionary screening accounted for 15%, and ESG integration accounted for 14%.
Canada showed a more distributed pattern: ESG integration accounted for 34%, corporate engagement and shareholder action for 30%, and negative or exclusionary screening for 21% of reported sustainable-investment strategy assets.
Australia and New Zealand each assigned 30% of reported strategy assets to corporate engagement and shareholder action and to ESG integration. Negative or exclusionary screening accounted for 24%.
Japan’s reported mix was also relatively balanced among the three leading approaches. Corporate engagement and shareholder action accounted for 33%, ESG integration for 31%, and negative or exclusionary screening for 19%.
| Region | Engagement and shareholder action | ESG integration | Negative or exclusionary screening |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 62% | 14% | 15% |
| Canada | 30% | 34% | 21% |
| Australia and New Zealand | 30% | 30% | 24% |
| Japan | 33% | 31% | 19% |
The percentages are regional strategy shares reported by GSIA for 2022. They are not performance rankings and do not establish that one strategy is more effective than another. They show how reported assets were classified in each market under the source’s methodology.
EU fund flows and market position
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) data on EU27 retail ESG UCITS shows continued demand in 2023. EU retail ESG equity, bond and mixed UCITS attracted €18 billion of net inflows, while comparable non-ESG funds recorded €14 billion of net outflows. The source is the ESMA Market Report on the Costs and Performance of EU Retail Investment Products 2024.
EU retail ESG fund assets under management grew 24% in 2023, increasing by €257 billion to €1.310 trillion at year-end. ESG funds represented 22% of the EU retail fund market at the end of 2023. Equity products were the largest ESG segment in ESMA’s sample, with €800 billion, equal to 61% of ESG fund assets.
Exchange-traded equity products were another important part of the picture. EU ESG equity ETFs attracted €23 billion of net inflows in 2023. Their assets rose from €172 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 to €221 billion at the end of 2023.
ESMA’s 4Q 2023 sample contained 3,797 ESG UCITS and 13,968 non-ESG UCITS. The ESG sample followed Morningstar’s sustainable-investment definition and excluded funds without available sustainability information. These figures therefore describe the sample and classification used by ESMA, not every investment product available to EU investors.
Costs and performance in EU retail funds
ESMA reported aggregate ongoing costs of 1.1% for both EU retail ESG UCITS and non-ESG funds in 2023. Aggregate one-off costs were 2.3% for ESG funds and 2.2% for non-ESG funds.
At a one-year horizon in 2023, aggregate net performance was 2.3% for EU retail ESG UCITS and 1.5% for non-ESG funds. The result is a period-specific comparison, not a forecast or a guarantee of future returns.
The five-year view covering 2019–2023 was also reported by ESMA. Aggregate net performance was 3.6% for EU retail ESG UCITS and 3.1% for non-ESG funds. Over that same five-year horizon, ongoing costs were 1.2% for ESG UCITS and 1.1% for non-ESG funds.
| EU retail fund measure | ESG UCITS | Non-ESG funds |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 ongoing costs | 1.1% | 1.1% |
| 2023 one-off costs | 2.3% | 2.2% |
| 2023 one-year net performance | 2.3% | 1.5% |
| 2019–2023 net performance | 3.6% | 3.1% |
| 2019–2023 ongoing costs | 1.2% | 1.1% |
The cost figures are aggregate measures for the ESMA sample. They do not mean every ESG fund had the same fee or return, and the performance figures should not be interpreted as an isolated ESG effect without considering product composition, market exposure and the source’s methodology.
Responsible-investor participation and stewardship
The PRI had 5,261 signatories at 31 March 2025, according to its 2025 Annual Report. The signatory base included 4,018 investment managers, 748 asset owners and 495 service providers.
During financial year 2024–25, the PRI added 344 signatories, including 40 asset owners. It delisted 429 signatories during the same financial year, equal to 8.2% of the signatory base cited in the report. Addition and delisting figures provide context for participation changes; they do not by themselves measure investment performance or the quality of stewardship.
PRI signatory assets under management were US$139.6 trillion at 31 March 2025, compared with US$128.4 trillion in March 2024. This is the aggregate AUM represented by signatories, not a standalone ESG-fund asset total. It should therefore not be compared directly with GSIA’s sustainable-investment asset totals as though the measures had the same definition.
Participation also involved direct convening activity. PRI regional teams held 270 signatory and stakeholder convenings during financial year 2024–25. Together with the signatory counts, this indicates the scale of the responsible-investment network, while the separate asset figure indicates the capital represented by participating organizations.