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- Measuring ESG adoption in investment funds: Evidence from the Portuguese asset management sectorSoares, Ricardo de Moraes e; Nunes, Alexandre Morais; Kaiseler, Ana Catarina; Gariso, Clara SimõesThe article observes the evolution of ESG adoption in Portuguese investment funds during the period 2021–2024 in the context of the strengthening of the European Union’s regulatory framework. The objective was to measure the degree of adoption of the principles, the institutional asymmetries, and the temporal dynamics induced by regulation. The study focused on four fund management companies, representing a total of 259 active funds, and employed a composite indicator on a discrete scale [0.3], defined on the basis of five ESG sub-dimensions. A structured content analysis and descriptive statistics were conducted, allowing an assessment of the mean, median, absolute and relative dispersion, skewness, and kurtosis of the distributions. The results suggest a continuous growth of the average indicator, from 0.75 in 2021 to 2.20 in 2024, accompanied by an increase in the median from 0.80 to 2.70. The standard deviation increased from 0.36 to 0.93, reflecting a greater absolute heterogeneity, while the coefficient of variation decreased from 0.48 to 0.32 between 2021 and 2022 and normalized around 0.41-0.42. The distributions exhibit persistent negative skewness (between −0.27 and −0.73) and negative kurtosis (between −1.85 and −1.70), which suggests an absence of full convergence and persistence of structural asymmetries. The subdimensions showed higher average values compared to those associated with quantitative measurement and the principle of double materiality. The analysis concludes that the inclusion of the metrics has evolved significantly, but asymmetries persist, which attests to the validity of the indicator as an appropriate tool for conducting ESG analyses.
- An Exploratory Framework for Measuring the Levels of Adoption of ESG PrinciplesSoares, Ricardo de Moraes e; Gariso, Clara; Kaizeler, Ana Catarina; Arcanjo, MarianaThe adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in financial markets is currently playing a key role in redefining investment processes, risk management and non-financial reporting by financial funds. Sustainability reporting, especially in the European context, is marked by a strengthening of the regulatory framework and a requirement for increased availability of information. Despite the increasing centrality of ESG principles and the establishment of the concept of double materiality as structural elements of non-financial reporting, there is a methodological gap in terms of the existence of standardised, systematic, transparent and comparable instruments that enable the measurement of the levels of implementation of ESG metrics in investment funds. The study proposes to develop a possible experimental indicator to measure the levels of adoption of ESG principles in financial funds, based on a documentary analysis of financial statements, sustainability reports and regulatory disclosures by investment fund management companies. The study proposes to develop a possible experimental indicator to measure the levels of adoption of ESG principles in financial funds, based on a documentary analysis of financial statements, sustainability reports and regulatory disclosures by investment fund management companies. The proposed model, the ESG Methodology Adoption Indicator (IAM-ESG), includes five essential dimensions of ESG integration and aims to reflect aspects related to financial investment policy and processes, regulatory compliance, application of the double materiality principle, adoption of quantitative metrics, and quality of governance and non-financial reporting. Ultimately, the indicator provides a ranking of funds and management companies according to their different levels of maturity in terms of ESG principles and promotes institutional and temporal comparability of investment markets. On an experimental basis, the proposal aims to contribute to the literature and discussion of sustainable finance through the development of an ESG instrument that is theoretically grounded, empirically applicable, aligned with the regulatory framework, and relevant to academia, institutions, and practice.