As the fund markets around the world are in general very crowded places, where a lot of products with similar investment objectives are trying to gather assets from the same investor pool, fund promoters need to differentiate their products from those of their competitors to gain a competitive advantage. This is also true in the segment of sustainability-oriented investment products. As the interest of investors rose for ESG-related products, an increasing number of funds claimed to integrate ESG credentials into their investment processes. In some cases, the wording on which ESG credentials are exactly used and how they are integrated

Following the news about product releases and trends in the European fund industry, one may get the impression sustainable investing is the new hot topic in the industry since there are funds with a sustainable investment objective launched every week. Some observers may already see an inflationary use of the terms environmental, social and governance (ESG) and socially responsible investing (SRI). In addition to the specialist funds, an increasing number of asset managers state they have the so-called non-financial data integrated into their research and portfolio management systems so analysts and portfolio managers can use the data within their decision-making