Morningstar Sustainalytics’ The 2025 State of ESG Data Survey, which surveyed 145 financial market participants, found that sustainable investing faces its greatest challenges in data coverage across asset classes (47%), data quality (41%), and inconsistent sustainability data (40%).
Private market participation was also highlighted as a potential challenge for sustainable investment.
Jono Broome, associate director, client advisory, at Morningstar Sustainalytics, noted: “Investors are increasingly looking to private equity, real assets, and other alternatives to gain a ‘whole portfolio’ view of sustainability. ESG data in these asset classes has traditionally been limited, creating new challenges for investors and research providers.”
The report also explained that sustainability regulations have increased disclosure requirements on ESG and sustainability factors for portfolio holdings. As a result, Morningstar emphasised that “access to standardised, high-quality data is essential.”