Robeco survey finds 82% of investors expect physical climate risks to affect asset prices

Robeco's latest survey of institutional and wholesale investors found 82% expect physical climate risks to affect asset prices over the next ten years, with 46% describing that impact as significant. Over a five-year horizon, 66% expect a significant or moderate effect. ESG Today reported the findings.

Only 47% of the investors surveyed call climate change significant or central to their investment policy, up from 46% a year earlier. Robeco says that is the first increase since the measure peaked at 75% in 2022. North America led the rise, the same region that led the earlier decline, though its 27% reading still trails the rest of the world. Another 62% expect climate to be significant or central within two years.

Among the survey's respondents, 63% expect physical climate risks to affect strategic asset allocation over the next five years, 59% expect an effect on stock picking and 57% on asset manager selection. Those are the decisions that would move mandates if the stated expectations translate into action.

Robeco surveyed 300 investors across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa, with assets under management ranging from less than $1bn to more than $1trn and representing over $35trn in total. Lucian Peppelenbos, the firm's climate and biodiversity strategist, attributed the shift in part to the physical effects of warming, citing wildfires that forced over a quarter of a million people to evacuate in Europe. "Climate has moved from a stated ambition to a pricing question," he said.