The march towards uniform global environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards faces the challenge of allowing for flexibility at a local level; and as ESG evolves, there are signs that integrity will emerge as a critical point for investors and businesses alike, according to a recent report.

It has and will be an interesting year when it comes to world events, and sustainability issues may struggle to compete for attention, finds the HSBC seventh ESG Sentiment Survey, the respondents to which represent US$6.7 trillion in asset under management across 150 institutions.

The reasons for doing ESG weakened across the board, the survey highlights, but sustainability remains partly as an objective across many funds.

“There is still strong support for more flexibility in disclosures and for global standards to be able to account for local circumstances,” the survey points out. “[And] of those that do engagement, just under half had an engagement framework.”

Around a third of respondents, the survey finds, were either looking at the resilience of their investments or looking at technological solutions for adaptation.

And while some respondents consider social issues on a global basis uniformly, the survey adds, others do so on a regional or country basis.

“As the regulatory ecosystem for ESG continually evolves,” the survey argues, “investors felt that corporates were the part that needed most oversight, particularly in the area of sustainability integrity.”