Sustainability preferences of retail investors in investment advice

The research project strengthens the leverage of sustainable investment for the transformation towards a sustainable world. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the economy needs to transform towards sustainable business models. A key incentive for this can be capital linked to sustainability criteria. In this respect, sustainable investment decisions by consumers can contribute to a sustainability transformation.

Despite growing interest in sustainable investments by retail investors, this is not yet reflected in actual investment decisions.
The German government's Sustainable Finance Strategy predominantly adopts a top-down perspective. We contrast this perspective with the perspective of consumers in the financial market. Against the background of the European Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), which came into force in mid-2022, this focus on consumers is not only urgent from a research perspective, but also politically required.

The cooperative project is being carried out by the institut für finanzdienstleistungen (iff) and the Institute for Economic and Cultural Geography (IWKG) at Leibniz University Hannover (LUH).

Three work packages will generate insights into the reality and preferences of retail investors. A separate synthesis work package focuses on communicating the research results to a broad public, for example through workshops.