82% of investors expect climate risks to hit asset prices within a decade, Robeco survey finds

A new survey by Robeco found that 82% of investors expect climate risks to impact asset prices over the next decade. The survey also recorded that climate change has increased as a strategic priority for investors for the first time in three years. The combination of those two data points marks a meaningful shift in the investor sentiment landscape after a period when ESG had faced growing scepticism from some institutional allocators.

For ESG managers preparing board level reports and investor disclosures, this shift in investor sentiment is a direct input into how climate risk should be framed in financial terms. When the majority of institutional investors are pricing climate exposure into their asset valuations over a ten year horizon, the argument that physical and transition risk are long term concerns becomes harder to sustain. Boards that have been deferring detailed climate scenario analysis are facing a narrowing window before investors begin demanding it.

The Robeco finding also intersects with the CSRD reporting framework, which requires companies to disclose how climate related risks and opportunities affect their financial position under ESRS E1. If 82% of investors are now explicitly connecting climate to asset price outcomes, the materiality threshold for what constitutes a reportable climate risk effectively rises. In house ESG teams will need to ensure that their ESRS E1 disclosures are detailed enough to satisfy investors who are actively stress testing portfolios for climate exposure.

Procurement and supply chain leads should note the implication for Scope 3 data quality. Investors pricing in climate risk need credible emissions data across the full value chain, not just Scope 1 and Scope 2 numbers. The gap between what institutional investors now expect and what most corporate Scope 3 reporting delivers is one of the practical pressure points this survey brings into focus. Automated supplier engagement tools that accelerate data collection across extended supply chains are exactly what closes this gap at scale, and platforms like SOMA operate precisely in that space.

The three year gap since climate last rose as a strategic priority for investors suggests the shift is not simply a reaction to a single weather event or policy announcement. It points to a structural reassessment by asset managers of where climate sits in their long term portfolio construction. ESG professionals should expect investor questionnaires and due diligence requests to become more granular on climate risk quantification over the next reporting cycle.