For those trying to track and measure ESG assets, it’s a welcome development, as “integrated” can be hard to decode. “If you claim to do ESG integration, that means nothing,” said Hortense Bioy, global director of sustainability research at Morningstar. “You have to define it, because there is no common definition.”
Some of Europe’s biggest asset managers are starting to drop a once-ubiquitous ESG label from their company filings amid concern that regulators will no longer tolerate vague descriptions of environmental, social and governance investing.
Money managers including Allianz Global Investors and DWS Group have either stopped using the catch-all term “ESG integrated” in their public documents or are playing down its relevance in interactions with investors, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal changes. They said the language choice followed new European disclosure rules.
