Value of sustainable investment assets worldwide 2014-2020, by region

On the surface, it appears that the total value of sustainable financial assets under management (AUM) of professional investment managers in the United States overtook Europe in 2020, rising to 17.1 trillion U.S. dollars compared to the 12 trillion U.S. dollars. Moreover, it also appears this is (at least in part) due to the value of sustainable AUM in Europe shrinking over this period. However, this perception does not factor in the differences in how sustainable assets are categorized - both between different years and between different countries - with this reduction in Europe in 2020 in fact being due to the introduction of a new definition for sustainable investments. This lack of consistent criteria for determining what constitutes 'sustainable' financial assets means that geographic and temporal comparisons can be difficult at best, and misleading at worst.