Global investors are operating in an environment where sustainability considerations are no longer theoretical or long dated. Climate risk is influencing markets in real time, regulatory expectations are tightening while fragmenting across jurisdictions, and artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to essential infrastructure. These shifts are highlighted in Clarity AI’s Investor Sustainability Pulse 2025, a new survey capturing the views of more than 120 asset managers, asset owners, and financial institutions across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The survey paints a picture of an industry that remains committed to sustainable investing but is facing greater operational and analytical complexity. Investors are under pressure to deliver faster, more defensible insights as climate impacts become more visible, ESG scrutiny intensifies, and regulatory demands diverge across regions.

Artificial Intelligence Moves Into the Core of Investment Workflows

AI adoption across sustainability and investment analysis is accelerating as firms confront growing volumes of data and tighter timelines. According to the survey, nearly 60 percent of respondents are either already using AI or plan to integrate it into their sustainability and investment processes within the next year. This signals a clear transition from pilot initiatives to more embedded use across portfolios and teams. The most common application for AI today is in sustainability data collection and processing. Investors increasingly rely on automated systems to aggregate, normalize, and interpret disclosures that vary widely by geography and issuer. This reflects the practical challenge of managing inconsistent datasets while meeting regulatory, client, and internal decision making needs. However, the survey also shows that trust remains the main barrier to broader adoption. Accuracy is the dominant concern for investors, followed closely by transparency and explainability. Most respondents view AI as a support tool that enhances human judgment rather than replaces it. Analysts and portfolio managers still want to understand how outputs are generated before relying on them in high stakes decisions. Lorenzo Saa, Chief Sustainability Officer at Clarity AI, noted that investors are looking for technology that converts fragmented sustainability information into actionable insight. He emphasized that tools must be verifiable and explainable to earn confidence and scale across organizations.

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Regulatory Divergence Tests Investor Readiness

While regulation is reshaping sustainable finance from the outside, preparedness remains uneven. Fewer than one in three respondents say their organizations are fully ready for sustainability disclosure requirements coming into force in 2026. A majority report partial readiness or acknowledge gaps in systems, governance, or data quality. The survey was conducted before the release of the SFDR 2.0 proposal, suggesting that regulatory complexity may increase further as firms adjust to revised rules and reporting expectations. Investors are increasingly concerned about managing compliance across multiple frameworks that differ in scope, definitions, and metrics. Nearly nine in ten respondents expect regulatory divergence across jurisdictions to complicate cross border investment strategies. For global portfolios, comparability is becoming a strategic requirement rather than a compliance exercise. Firms that cannot reconcile differences across regulatory regimes risk inefficiencies, higher costs, and inconsistent investment decisions.

Climate Risk Shifts From Scenario Planning to Market Reality

Climate risk is no longer treated as a distant or abstract concern. Investors are integrating both transition risk and physical risk more deeply into portfolio construction and risk management. The survey shows that these risks now rank among the top considerations shaping investment decisions. Extreme weather events are having a tangible impact. More than half of respondents say floods, heatwaves, wildfires, and other climate related events are influencing investment decisions more than in previous years. This shift is driving demand for analytics that capture near term exposure, asset resilience, and geographic sensitivity rather than relying solely on long term scenario models. As climate impacts become more frequent and localized, investors are seeking tools that can assess vulnerability at the asset and issuer level. This reinforces the need for timely data and forward looking insight that connects sustainability factors directly to financial performance.

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Sustainable Investment Demand Persists Under Heightened Scrutiny

Despite louder public debate around ESG and sustainability, investor demand remains stable to growing. Around half of respondents expect client interest in sustainable investment products to increase over the coming year, while many others anticipate demand holding steady. What has changed is how sustainability is communicated. A significant share of investors report adjusting their language, tailoring messaging by market, or using alternative terminology. Some have reduced sustainability focused communication altogether, reflecting a more cautious environment where claims are closely scrutinized by regulators, clients, and the public. This shift suggests that sustainable investing is entering a more mature phase. Rather than broad narratives, investors are prioritizing precision, evidence, and accountability in how sustainability considerations are presented and applied.

From Commitment to Execution

The Clarity AI survey suggests that sustainable investing is not retreating but evolving. Climate risk is becoming a core financial variable, regulation is forcing stronger governance and data discipline, and AI is emerging as a critical enabler of scale and speed. For global investors, the next phase will be defined by execution. Success will depend on building credible data infrastructure, deploying AI tools that can be trusted and explained, and navigating regulatory fragmentation without losing strategic coherence. In a market shaped by climate reality and rising scrutiny, sustainability is no longer a parallel exercise. It is becoming inseparable from investment decision making itself.

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