Less appetite for ESG advertising in Europe in Q1 2025

Only 25 ESG advertisers were present in Europe, the lowest number since 2020, according to data by Fundamental Monitor

Key points:

• Only 3% of all asset management advertising was dedicated to the promotion of ESG.
• Most ESG advertisers were active in the UK, followed by Switzerland.
• ESG brand campaigns were the most popular, followed by ESG fund promotion and ESG thought leadership.

There were fewer ESG advertisers in Europe during Q1 2025 and only 3% of all asset management advertising was dedicated to the promotion of ESG, down from 14% in Q4 2024, data by Fundamental Monitor shows.

Only 25 asset managers were promoting responsible investing in Europe during the first quarter, the lowest number since the start of 2020, and considerably less than the 37 ESG advertisers active in Q4. These asset managers dedicated 15% of their overall advertising budget to ESG promotion, which is less than half of the 32% seen in Q4.

Four asset managers were only promoting ESG during Q1: Van Lanschot Kempen, Swisscanto, CCLA and Qualitas Energy. But all countries saw some ESG advertising activity, with most ESG advertisers active in the UK (ten advertisers) and the Benelux (nine advertisers), followed by France and Switzerland (seven each).

Brand campaigns are still the most popular but fell from 62% in Q4 to 41% in Q1. ESG fund promotion rose sharply from 4% to 33%, while the promotion of ESG thought leadership fell from 34% to 26% over the same period.

Below are some examples of the type of ESG campaigns that were in market in Europe during Q1 2025:

Baillie Gifford

Van Lanschot Kempen

Pictet Asset Management