Just a sliver of the $1.8 trillion in assets under management in Australia are invested along thematic environmental, social and governance lines.

These few billion dollars are invested whereby an environmental or social factor will generally trump traditional measures such as short-term returns.

“To fully incorporate enviornmental, social and governance questions requires cultural changes in asset management, lots of skill and process changes around investments,” says Nathan Fabian, chief executive of Investor Group on Climate Change for Australia and New Zealand.

“The reward and remuneration systems for asset managers may also have to change,” he says.

Fabian’s group seeks to contribute to investor views on policy changes around climate change as well as working with asset managers on issues around climate change in so far as it affects their investment decisions.

Members of the group include AustralianSuper, Cbus, Hesta, UniSuper, VFMC, First State, AMP, BT Funds Management, Colonial and Perpetual.