Australian ESG pension funds have outperformed over one, three and five-year time frames.

New research from the Responsible Investment Association Australasia shows the 34 largest ESG funds saw an average return over the past year of 7.33%, above the return of non-ESG funds of 7.31%. Over the past three years, the funds returned 9.06% against 8.65%. The five year return was 8.14% compared with 7.7% for non-ESG funds. The total number of ESG funds rose to 81% of the total, up from 70% three years ago.