Do Responsible Investors Invest Responsibly?

Abstract

We explore a novel survey on responsible investing by institutional investors around the world and match it to archival data on equity portfolio holdings. We document that institutions that commit to responsible investing exhibit different environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolio-level scores but this is not the case for US-domiciled institutions. We also examine if different ESG implementation strategies (e.g., screening, integration, engagement) affect portfolio-level ESG scores but find limited evidence. Finally, we find that responsible investing does not enhance portfolio returns but acts more as a risk mitigation tool.