In the US, where high-profile Republicans have railed against ESG, investments in sustainable assets plunged to US$8.4 trillion last year from just over US$17 trillion two years earlier. The drop was attributed largely to a change in methodology used to calculate the numbers.
Still, questions about the future of sustainable finance persist in the US as lawmakers from more than a dozen states, spanning Utah to Florida, try to fight the incorporation of environmental, social and governance principles into business and investing.
