Bank of America Merrill Lynch found in 2018 that firms with a better ESG record than their peers produced higher three-year returns, were more likely to become high-quality stocks and less likely to have large price declines or go bankrupt.
However, study by NN Investment Partners1 showed that more than half of professional investors still think that incorporating ESG into their investment strategy will reduce their returns, with more than 70% thinking this in Italy and the Netherlands, along with 80% of German investors.