For several years the story about climate and investors ran in one direction — backlash, retreat, and a quiet walking-back of commitments. Robeco’s 2026 Global Climate Investing Survey points the other way. Based on 300 institutional and wholesale investors across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa — representing more than $35 trillion in assets — it finds climate moving from a stated ambition to a pricing question.
Climate risk is becoming a pricing input
The headline number is hard to ignore: 82% of investors expect physical climate risks to have a significant or moderate impact on asset prices over the next ten years, with 46% expecting a “significant” impact. Two-thirds (66%) see that impact within just five years. A majority also expect physical risk to shape strategic asset allocation (63%), stock picking (59%) and even asset-manager selection (57%) over the next five years.
“Climate has moved from a stated ambition to a pricing question, and a pricing question cannot be set aside when the mood turns. — Lucian Peppelenbos, Climate & Biodiversity Strategist, Robeco”
After peaking in 2022, the share of investors calling climate central to their investment policy has ticked up for the first time since the backlash began — 47% this year, led by a rebound in North America (still the laggard at 27%). Looking ahead, 62% expect climate to be significant or central to policy within two years.
Commitments are holding — and capital is moving
- Among investors with a net-zero commitment, 64% say the global slowdown in government support has not changed their goal or approach; only 4% are reconsidering the commitment itself
- 60% plan to increase allocations to climate-solution investments over the next three years (42% within the next year)
- 72% have either set a quantitative target or a general aim to invest more in climate solutions — up from 64% a year ago
- Yet investors are clear-eyed: only 19% expect an orderly transition this decade, and 44% see the 2°C Paris target as unachievable
What it means for how you report
When investors start treating climate as a pricing variable rather than a values statement, the quality of your climate and sustainability communication becomes a financial issue, not a reputational one. Decision-useful, evidence-backed disclosure — connected to strategy, risk and long-term value — is what lets capital price your company accurately instead of applying a discount for uncertainty.
This is the same shift we see everywhere in the market: frameworks are the structure, not the story; credibility beats volume; and sustainability has to live inside the business. Big Pivot Partners helps companies turn a fragmented, fast-moving disclosure landscape into a clear, credible narrative that investors can actually use — working alongside the legal, accounting and assurance advisers who own the technical compliance questions.
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