Over half of P2P investors consider ESG when investing in the sector

Over half (52 per cent) of European peer-to-peer investors take environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into account when choosing where to put their money, a survey has found.

Robo.cash has revealed that almost a quarter (24 per cent) of European lenders actively implement ESG practices in their P2P investments. Only 10 per cent consider this criteria among the top three factors when choosing a P2P platform, but 42 per cent still take it into account.

Read more: Is P2P lending better than ESG funds?

Over half (54 per cent) said that if the platform has ESG initiatives it can motivate them to invest in it more.

The European P2P platform’s research also found that resource efficiency and climate change are the top areas for ESG investing (12.5 per cent), followed by social equity and inclusion (15.7 per cent) and health and safety (12.1 per cent).

Read more: Earth Day: Five ethical and social IFISAs

And almost a third (30 per cent) of investors said they would prefer to invest in environmentally significant projects and 16 per cent highlighted the importance of a transparent company image that an ESG strategy can provide.

A number of P2P platforms offer ethical and green investments, such as Folk2Folk which offers loans for renewable energy and green projects and Lendwise, which is focusing on putting the S in ESG with its education finance.

Read more: Proplend debuts new ESG strategy