Last year France's Amundi hit three ESG objectives it had set in 2018, winning Investor of the year (asset manager) for its efforts.

The largest European asset manager said it reached these objectives:

• Integrating ESG criteria into 100% of its actively managed open-ended funds;
• Initiatives fostering energy transition to low-carbon and social cohesion reaching €32 billion in assets;
• Rating methodology covering more than 13,500 companies.

In December, the company announced its next set of three-year sustainability goals called 2025 ESG Ambitions.

Its new aims include engaging with 1,000 more companies on greenhouse gas emissions reductions by voting at their annual general meetings and working to link their management's remuneration packages to ESG strategies.

The firm has also launched a public-private partnership with the International Finance Corporation to encourage a green and inclusive recovery from the Covid-19 crisis in emerging markets.

Amaury D’Orsay, head of fixed income at Amundi, says 2021 was a very positive year for the ESG bond market. “Social bonds and sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) emerged as new effective instruments,” he says.

“Social bonds experienced a spectacular boom in 2021. The social dimension now represents an important theme for investors, given its potential for systemic destabilisation.”

SLBs were “remarkable” in their growth and new position as most favoured format for non-financial issuers, he adds.

Amundi manages more than €1.8 trillion ($2 trillion) assets, as of 30 September, of which €802 billion (45%) the asset manager considered to be "ESG".

The asset manager had the greatest proportion of assets last year labelled as 'article 8' or 'article 9' under the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) at 6.5%, according to Morningstar analysis

Amundi also launched several ESG bond funds in 2021.