Governance tops ESG priorities as sustainable adoption rebounds
Governance takes the lead
The most notable pivot in this year’s data is the rise of governance as the dominant ESG priority. Governance, tax and shareholder rights has emerged as the most cited sustainability priority, rising from 18 per cent of respondents in 2025 to 32 per cent in 2026.
That finding aligns with a broader trend identified in a separate 2026 GlobeScan survey, in which nearly half of corporate leaders globally ranked governance as the top ESG reputational risk for their organisations this year, up sharply from 2024 levels.
Climate physical risk is also attracting greater attention, now ranked a priority by 26 per cent of respondents, compared with 19 per cent in 2025. The growing material impact of extreme weather events and the compounding uncertainty of the global policy environment appear to be bringing physical risk, as distinct from transition risk, into sharper focus for institutional investors.
Beyond traditional ESG pillars, respondents are also tracking a wider set of systemic threats.
Health and healthcare-related risks (25 per cent), technology and AI-related risks (24 per cent), and food security (19 per cent) were identified as emerging areas of concern. For advisors building long-horizon portfolios, the expansion of sustainability considerations into these domains may require clients to revisit how comprehensively their investment mandates address structural risk.
