Bonds are Q4 and 2025’s Most Popular Sustainable Asset Class
- Net assets: Article 8 TNA stood at €8.55trn, their highest ever, while article 9 were €325.63bn, down from their 2024 peaks.
- Asset class flows: Total article 8 flows for Q4 2025 were €60.47bn, down from Q3’s €110.97bn, as a result of reduced money market fund (MMF) flow, as article 9 shed €7.87bn.
- Bond funds were Q4’s best sellers, attracting €43.32bn, or 55.04% of the flows to the asset class, and were also the best-selling sustainable asset class over 2025.
- Equity Global article 9 funds saw about €10bn redeemed over the year—in line with the total sums redeemed from article 9 equity funds.
Sustainable Asset Class Growth
Chart 1: Article 8 Fund Asset Class TNA, Q1 2024 to Q4 2025 (€trn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Article 8 total net assets (TNA) stood at €8.55trn at the end of Q4 2025. That’s a quarter-on-quarter rise of €90.75bn and a year-on-year rise of €462.21bn.
At €3.28trn, equity funds are the largest Article 8 asset class (38.41%), followed by bonds (€2.05trn/24.03%), MMFs (€1.72trn/20.14%), then mixed assets (€1.19trn/13.93%), and alternatives (€179.11bn/2.11%). Nothing else has more than 1.5% of the Article 8 market AUM.
Commodities once again saw the fastest growth in TNA over the quarter (from €2.43bn to €3.43bn), though this is from a very low base. Meanwhile, real estate and alternative funds saw a reduction in TNA.
Chart 2: Article 9 Fund Asset Class TNA, Q1 2024 to Q4 2025 (€bn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Article 9 funds total net assets are just 3.81% of those of Article 8—down once more on the previous quarter. Total Q4 assets were €325.63bn, down from the previous quarter’s €328.04bn as a result of market rises, though still well down on the peak of €349.34bn in Q3 2024.
Equity fund assets are the largest class (€217.75bn/66.87%, down in absolute and relative terms), followed by bonds (€80.43bn/24.7%, up in absolute and relative terms), then mixed assets (€17.44bn/5.35%), then alternatives (€5.46bn/1.68%). No other asset class has more than 1% of overall Article 9 AUM.
Article 8 TNA have risen since the start of the year. In that, they are broadly reflective of the general conditions in the European fund market, where total AUM in January 2025 was €16.88trn, and in September €17.4trn, following a decline in March and April. However, article 9 continued to trend down under the pressure of persistent redemptions.
Sustainable Asset Flows
Chart 3: Article 8 quarterly flows, Q1 2024 to Q4 2025 (€bn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Total article 8 flows for Q4 2025 were €60.47bn, down from €110.97bn the previous quarter, mainly as a result of much reduced MMF flows.
Bonds once again saw the largest inflows (+€43.15bn), then mixed assets (+€6.86bn), and alternatives (+€6.86bn). Equities had their second consecutive quarter of inflows, netting €2.8bn, followed by MMFs (+€1.19bn), then commodities (+€460m).
Meanwhile, real estate funds maintained their unbroken run of redemptions over the two years
(-€1.54bn), and “other” funds saw outflows (-€877m).
Total 2025 article 8 flows were +€334.14bn.
Chart 4: Article 9 quarterly flows, Q1 2024 to Q4 2025 (€bn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
The quarter saw €7.87bn of redemptions—up again on the previous quarter—or 2.4% of Q3 TNA.
These redemptions are consistently dominated by equities (-€7.66bn), followed by MMF (-€214m), mixed assets (-€213m), and “other” funds (-€24m).
However, bond funds saw their second consecutive month of inflows (+€164m) and alternative funds (+€78m) saw inflows.
Article 9 funds suffered aggregate redemptions of €25.52bn over 2025.
While article 9 funds have seen persistent outflows, the classification’s bond funds have seen inflows for three of the past four quarters. Meanwhile, article 8 mixed-assets funds have enjoyed persistent net inflows over the year, after spending 2024 in the red.
Sustainable versus Conventional Flows by Asset Class
Chart 5: Asset Class Flows, Articles 8 and 9 v Conventional, Q4 2025 (€bn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Article 8 and 9 bond funds attracted €43.32bn over the quarter, or 55.04% of the flows to the asset class overall: in percentage terms in line with the previous quarter.
Mixed asset followed, netting €8.21bn, or 31.54% of total MA flows. It was a particularly strong quarter for SFDR 8 and 9 alternatives funds, which attracted €6.93bn, or 57.87% of the total flows for alternatives. However, MMF flows were well down, attracting just €978m (5.54%), and commodities netted €460m (19.34%).
Equity SFDR 8 and 9 funds again suffered the worst redemptions, despite €31.91bn of inflows for conventional equity funds. This was driven by article 9 redemptions (-€7.66bn), as their article 8 peers saw inflows (+€2.8bn). Real estate funds also shed €1.54bn, all from article 8 funds.
Chart 6: Asset Class Flows, Articles 8 and 9 v Conventional, FY 2025 (€bn)
Source: LSEG Lipper
Full-year SFDR article 8 and 9 rankings remain unchanged from the previous quarter.
Article 8 and 9 bond and MMFs continue to take the majority of flows in their asset class (+€168.67bn/ 59.38% and +€121.01bn/72.06%, respectively). Third-placed article 8 and 9 alternatives also take the bulk of flows to the asset class (+€22.08bn/77.53%).
Mixed assets follow (+€21.12bn/42.65%), then, at some distance, commodities (+€1.03bn/9.83%).
Sustainable equity suffered the worst redemptions
(-€10.56bn) despite positive flows for conventional funds (+€186.28bn) and article 8 (+€5.45bn).
Real estate funds also saw outflows of €6.21bn, or 62.04% of the total redemptions for this asset class.
Both quarterly and full-year figures demonstrate that there is considerable appetite for sustainable funds (however loosely defined) from European investors. The large—very large—proviso here is of course article 9 equity funds, which continue to haemorrhage assets.
Sustainable Flows by Classification
Largest positive flows
Chart 7: Largest Positive Article 8 & 9 Flows by LSEG Lipper Global Classification, Q4 2025 (€bn) versus Conventional Equivalents
Source: LSEG Lipper
Despite subdued flows for MMFs in general, Money Market GBP takes the top slot over the quarter (+€12.23bn/+€3.59bn conventional), with Money Market USD in third (+€6.48bn/+€11.09bn conventional). The former is from UK investors, while the latter is largely Continental, as investors here take advantage of better yields on USD, and perhaps park assets in dollars while they keep a weather eye on the US market.
In Q3, Equity Europe made it into the table. Now it’s equity free and dominated by bonds. The most popular is Bond EUR Corporates (+€7.05bn/-€228m conventional)’ Absolute Return Bond EUR (+€5.73bn) is primarily to a single fund, while Bond Other (+€4.71bn) is largely an allocation to a specialist financials fund.
Chart 8: Largest Positive Article 8 & 9 Flows by LSEG Lipper Global Classification, FY 2025 (€bn) versus Conventional Equivalents
Source: LSEG Lipper
Although euro vehicles have been pushed down the table over the quarter, MMFs dominate over FY 2025: Money Market USD (+€82.4bn/+€10.43bn conventional), GBP (+€18.47bn/+€9.25bn conventional), and EUR (+€17.77bn/+€33.31bn conventional).
Bond Other (+€20.56bn/+€1.52bn conventional), as described left, is largely a single fund allocation, and short-term bond funds have been well-favoured over the year (Bond EUR Short Term, +€15.07bn; Bond Global Short Term, +€14.91bn, with sustainable funds taking over half the flows), although less so as yield curves have normalised, pushing investors further out in search of yield.
Equity Europe is the only equity classification to make the table (+€15.25bn/+€27.14bn conventional), and equity classifications are thin on the ground from there on, with Equity Global Income next (+€8.09bn/ +€13.21bn conventional), then nothing till 31st-placed Equity Sweden (+€2.06bn/+€546m conventional).
Largest negative flows
Chart 9: Largest Negative Article 8 & 9 Flows by LSEG Lipper Global Classification,
Q4 2025 (€bn) versus Conventional Equivalents
Source: LSEG Lipper
The muted nature of aggregate MMF flows despite large allocations to GBP and USD for the quarter is apparent from chart 9, as money flooded out of Money Market EUR (-€18.13bn/+€3.04bn conventional)—although conventional funds still took money.
Equity Global continued its negative run (-€11.79bn), although, in contrast to Q3, its conventional peers saw inflows (+€7.67bn).
Similarly, article 8 and 9 Equity US funds suffered disproportionately from investor unease over valuations (-€1.25bn/+€496m conventional), although Equity US Small & Mid Cap suffered more
(-€1.31bn/-€1.12bn conventional), as did their European SMID peers (-€1.21bn/-€461m conventional).
Bond classifications escaped relatively lightly, an exception being Bond USD High Yield
(-€1.13bn/-€323m conventional).
Chart 10: Largest Negative Article 8 & 9 Flows by LSEG Lipper Global Classification, FY 2025 (€bn) Vs Conventional Equivalents
Source: LSEG Lipper
Equity US article 8 and 9 funds remain at the bottom of the table, suffering outflows of €14.87bn, despite robust inflows for their conventional equivalents (+€23.86bn). It was a similar story for Equity Global funds (-€10.82bn/+€74.23bn conventional), with the latter seeing almost all the sustainable money flowing out of article 9 funds. With €10.56bn being redeemed from article 9 equity funds over the year (chart 4), it’s clear that it is Equity Global funds feeling the brunt of investors’ disenchantment with this market.
Mixed Asset GBP Flexible funds also fared poorly relative to conventional flows, though both were in negative territory (-€5.44bn/-€1.59bn conventional).
Bond USD Corporates is the fixed income classification with the largest outflows over the year
(-€5.43bn) despite good flows for their conventional peers (+€4.07bn).
Specific themes such as alternative energy (-€4.2bn), healthcare (-€4.14bn), and water (-€3.49bn) have struggled over the year.
In other asset classes, Real Estate European has seen significant outflows (-€3.75bn, almost all from article 8 funds).
