Some of the world’s wealthiest families are making only tentative steps towards ESG adoption and are reluctant to sacrifice returns to fight climate change, a new survey from Citi Private Bank shows.

The Family Office Survey 2021 found that ultra-high net worth families seemed to be “gradually evaluating and aligning their portfolio for sustainability”.

However, 57 percent of family offices with less than US$500 million under management said ESG alignment is not a consideration – or they were “unsure” – while the same was true for 45 percent of the over-$500 million cohort.

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