In summer 2022, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Hoover Institution Working Group on Corporate Governance at Stanford University, and Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University jointly conducted a nationwide survey of 2,470 investors — distributed by gender, race, age, household income, and state residence — to understand how American investors view environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities among the companies in their investment portfolio.
Key findings include:
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Investors have diametrically opposed views of ESG based on their age.
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Young investors want fund managers to advocate for environmental and social causes. Older investors want them to stick with generating financial returns.
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Young investors claim to be willing to lose between 6 and 10 percent of their retirement savings to support ESG causes. Older investors do not want to lose anything.
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Young investors claim to be much more knowledgeable than older investors about the stock market. They also have higher expectations for future growth.
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Investors invest with managers who share their views.
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Without regard to their view of ESG, investors want fund managers to take their personal views into account when voting shares.