European Equity ESG Report 2025

Mar 04, 2025

Key takeaways from this year’s European Equity ESG report:

  • Ideological and political lines have become blurred in a way unseen in decades. This, combined with pronounced anti-incumbent sentiment, has resulted in stark instances of political adjustment in countries such as France and Germany in Europe, and the US.
  • The backlash against certain movements within the responsible investment (RI) realm, as well as broader net-zero targets, is having profound effects not only on stock sentiment (particularly at an industry level) but also on CapEx.
  • The speed and scale of some companies reducing or scrapping certain targets, whether related to carbon emissions, packaging and plastics, or certain social targets, has been unexpected.
  • The Aerospace and Defence industry is a key area of change for the European investment market, and the debate surrounding the place of defence names within RI remains a notable one.

In our report, we also highlight our ESG philosophy and process, delve into GLP-1s and their potential impacts beyond weight loss, and give examples of notable corporate engagements in 2024.