The main organization representing European pension funds says it’s still not clear how the industry should balance financial returns against a desire to do more environmental and social investing.

The lack of clarity means pension investors representing about $5 trillion may be putting less cash than they otherwise might into sustainable assets. That’s as the need for a decisive reallocation of capital toward planet-saving goals grows more urgent as global warming becomes increasingly deadly.

How asset managers treat ESG risk will define the industry for years to come. In Europe, it’s already clear some have exaggerated their ethical investing claims as the sector is forced to review its ESG labeling amid a stricter regulatory framework. Meanwhile, hedge funds appear to be lagging behind on ESG investing, a development that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the pension industry.
For pension funds, the question of how much emphasis to place on client returns versus saving the planet has yet to be clarified. And the financial case for ESG remains contentious. So far this year, European ESG funds tracked by Bloomberg have returned 14%, which is about 4 percentage points less than the Stoxx Europe 600 index. U.S. and Japanese ESG funds also returned less than their comparable benchmarks.

Meanwhile, cash continues to gush into ESG assets. The market for environmental, social and governance investing is set to exceed $50 trillion by 2025, Bloomberg Intelligence estimates, which would equal more than a third of total global assets under management.

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