Women clients twice as likely as men to favor ESG

Women clients at RBC Wealth Management are more than twice as likely as men to say it is extremely important that the companies they invest in integrate ESG factors into their policies and decisions, according to a survey RBC conducted of more than 1,000 clients in the U.S.

The survey also found that 74% of women were interested in increasing the share of ESG investments in their portfolios and that women were significantly more likely than men to have an interest in learning more about using environmental, social and governance factors to invest.

While the survey revealed that women are leading the charge in ESG investing, more than half of male respondents (53%) also expressed interest in increasing the share of ESG in their portfolio, and 61% of clients overall shared this position, RBC said in a release.

Overall, 31% of RBC clients acknowledged the importance of integrating ESG factors into their investment decisions, with female clients rating social and environmental elements higher than male clients.

The governance factor showed no difference by gender and ranked the most important to clients across all ESG elements. Corporate ethics and regulatory compliance were the most important of governance elements for clients, followed by transparency.

[More: ESG investing is just investing]