Asset owners increasingly view consideration of ESG factors as integral to the fulfilment of their fiduciary duty, according to a global survey conducted by data and analytics provider Morningstar.
A total of 61% of respondents to the firm’s annual ‘Voice of the Asset Owner’ survey said that ESG considerations go hand in hand with fulfilling their fiduciary duty, up from 53% last year. Nearly six in 10 (58%) asset owners said ESG materiality has increased in the past five years.
The proportion of responses indicating that ESG considerations hamper their ability to carry out their fiduciary duty decreased from 20% in 2024 to just 6% in 2025.
Asset owners in the UK exhibited the strongest support for considering ESG as it relates to fiduciary responsibilities, with 91% asserting its relevance, compared with 62% in 2024.
The US (–16%) and Australia (–13%) were the only two countries that saw a decrease in the view that ESG considerations are supportive of fulfilling their fiduciary duties.
Fiduciary duties differ in how they are defined legally across jurisdictions and interpreted by asset owners, with the US taking a narrow interpretation, focused strictly on risk-adjusted returns in the short to medium term.
Bodies including the UN Principles for Responsible Investment have sought to clarify the boundaries of fiduciary duty in major markets. Earlier this year, there were efforts to introduce a new definition into pending UK pensions legislation in line with a review by the Financial Markets Law Commission, which stated that diversification alone is insufficient to avoid systemic risks such as climate change.
The Morningstar study is based on the responses of more than 500 asset owners across 11 countries with combined assets of approximately US$19 trillion. Participants included pension funds, insurance general accounts, outsourced CIOs and family offices, with six in 10 managing more than US$1 billion and 29% managing in excess of US$10 billion.
The survey also reported that asset owners were increasingly pushing for deeper climate innovation strategies, with climate transition readiness (56%), energy management (48%) and physical climate risks (42%) at the top of their list of most material environmental factors.
Three in four (76%) asset owners globally view increasing trade disputes as material to their investments, with this trend consistent across all regions.
