A survey by BNP Paribas Asset Management has found that social issues have become more important to investors since the onset of Covid-19.

The survey of European investors’ attitudes towards ESG during the Covid-19 crisis shows  81% of respondents already employ ESG in all or part of their portfolios and a further 16% plan to do so. Overall, almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said that ESG has become more important as a result of the crisis.

It also showed that the importance of social considerations have increased of 20 percentage points since the onset of Covid-19. 79% of respondents cite social considerations as having a positive impact on long-term investment performance and risk management. However, 42% of respondents highlight a lack of established standard metrics for measuring social issues.

The importance of all three ESG factors has increased since the crisis began, most notably for social considerations, which 70% of respondents expect to become extremely or very important as we move forward.