Investors plan to maintain or increase their exposure to climate investments over the coming years, according to Robeco‘s 2026 Global Climate Investing Survey.
The survey found 60% of global respondents expect to increase allocations to investments that actively combat climate change over the next three years, while 59% believe demand for climate mitigation solutions will remain strong irrespective of political sentiment.
Among respondents with a net-zero goal, 94% said they intend to stay committed irrespective of government policy.
Despite this resilience, scepticism about the pace of the transition is widespread. Only 19% of investors expect an orderly climate transition, while 47% anticipate a “too-little, too-late” scenario. Some 44% think the goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C is unachievable, and 45% cited government policy uncertainty as the biggest obstacle to greater climate mitigation investment.
Two-thirds of investors (66%) expect physical climate risks to have a moderate or significant impact on asset prices over the next five years.
Energy security is also shaping sentiment, with three-quarters (75%) of investors saying the conflict in the Middle East will accelerate the transition to renewable energy as countries seek to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. A majority said the conflict would either moderately (60%) or significantly (15%) accelerate that shift.
Lucian Peppelenbos, climate and biodiversity strategist at Robeco, said: “Our 2026 study illustrates what we call the new reality of climate investing. While investors remain committed to their net-zero goals, there is a growing realism that the transition is driven by hard economics and hard geopolitics. The drive for energy security is benefiting investments in areas such as renewables, battery storage and grids. The new climate reality is also a realization that physical risks are here now, not in a distant future. We believe this will increasingly drive investor sentiment in the next few years.”
The survey also found that concerns around investment performance have eased. Investment performance remains the biggest challenge overall, cited by 50%, but this has fallen sharply from 67% in 2025. Data quality concerns also fell, to 34% from 48% last year, although balancing targets with impact (41%) and dealing with complex asset classes (37%) remain significant challenges.
The survey canvassed 300 institutional and wholesale investors across Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and South Africa, representing approximately $35.8 trillion in assets under management.
