Socially Responsible Investment strategies for the transition towards sustainable development: the importance of integrating and communicating ESG

Purpose – Over the last decades, Socially and Responsible Investments (SRI) have grown becoming a highly discussed issue. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to better understand if Environmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria integration in investment strategies and its subsequent communication can support the transition of finance towards sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – An explorative analysis, based on a multiple case study, has been conducted and addressed by a content analysis on the Key Investors Information Documents (KIIDs) that the sample companies published for 2020. Findings – The achieved results demonstrated that the case companies differently integrated ESG into their SRI; thus, if some of them are quite near to a full integration, the others demonstrated less than a full commitment with ESG. This is seeming to be mainly due to the different approach that Asset Management Companies (AMCs) and/or managers have adopted for integrating ESG criteria. Research limitations/implications – Even though the achieved results offered some interesting insights for asset managers, the explorative and qualitative nature of this study and the small sample investigated somewhat limits it. Practical implications – AMCs, consultants and managers in developing and implementing their SRI strategy could be much more focused on the importance of ESG integration for the transition towards a more responsible and sustainable finance (micro-level) as well as a more sustainable development (macro-level). Originality/value – The paper provides new insights in the essence of SRI strategies and their potential to contribute to sustainable development. Thus, it tries to shed new lights on the role that ESG can have to stimulate and support investment decisions and, in so doing, contributing to make finance grow more sustainable.