Områdesbeskrivning: Hållbara fonder har med tiden blivit ett alltmer populärt investeringsalternativ för fondsparare. Tillsammans med en högre hållbarhetsmedvetenhet bland konsumenter, har företag behövt anpassa sina strategier för att nå upp till samhällets förväntningar kring hållbarhet. Den högre efterfrågan på hållbara alternativ, har bidragit till att antalet hållbara fonder har ökat med tiden. Fondbolagens implementering av mer hållbara strategier, medför en positiv marknadsföring för de bolagen och därigenom även en större lönsamhet. Samtidigt som hållbarhetsaspekten har blivit ett alltmer populärt fokuseringsområde för fondbolagen, har populariteten bidragit till striktare förordningar, för huruvida fondbolagen ska kunna marknadsföra sina fonder som hållbara. Bland annat innebär de nya förordningarna att fondbolagen har större upplysningsplikt gentemot investerarna, som ska få möjligheten att granska om fondbolagens ageranden, når upp till deras preferenser eller inte. Unga personer har genom tidigare undersökningar, visat på högt hållbarhetsmedvetande. Därav anses det intressant att studera hur unga vuxnas preferenser är och hur det påverkar deras inställning till att investera i hållbara fonder.  Syfte: Undersökningen syftar till att undersöka huruvida ekonomistudenter värdesätter hållbara fonder idag och om de anser det som troligt att de kommer att investera i hållbara fonder i framtiden. Studenternas preferenser om hållbara fonder, kan ge en indikation på hur fondbolagen kan skapa legitimitet gällande investeringar i hållbara fonder, gentemot studiens målgrupp. Metod: En kvantitativ metodundersökning har gjorts för att studera ekonomistudenters inställning till hållbara investeringar. Det empiriska materialet har insamlats med hjälp av en enkät online, vilken skickades ut till hela populationen. Hypoteser har framställts gällande huruvida studenters preferenser om hållbarhet och fonder, påverkar deras inställning till att investera i hållbara fonder.Resultat: Studiens resultat framhäver att studenternas preferenser om hållbarhet och fonder, har en positiv påverkan på hur deras inställning är kring investeringar i hållbara fonder. Resultatet från studien bekräftas av tidigare forskning, att privata investerare efterfrågar fonder som uppfyller deras etiska värderingar. Studien visar att unga vuxna, trots att de är i början av sitt livssparande, eftersträvar hållbara alternativ. Exempelvis anser de flesta studenterna, att de är villiga att få en lägre avkastning, om deras investeringar överensstämmer med deras etiska ställningstaganden. För fondbolagens sida visar det att hållbara strategier gynnar deras legitimitetssökande. Samtidigt visar resultatet att om hållbara fonders förvaltningar inte anses vara hållbara, kan det bidra till ett legitimitetsgap gentemot studiens population. Begränsningar: Studien är avgränsad till att studera preferenserna hos ekonomistudenter på Högskolan i Borås, vilka hör till gruppen unga vuxna. Avgränsningen gjordes, eftersom en studie där alla unga vuxna hade inkluderats, hade blivit alltför omfattande. Samma tanke låg till grund för valet att endast inkludera ekonomistudenter på en högskola, istället för alla högskolor i Sverige. Anledningen till att ekonomistudenter valdes till populationen, var framförallt för att de studenterna ansågs ha ett större intresse i studiens ämnesområde. / Area description: With time, sustainable funds have become a more popular investment alternative for fund savers. Together with a higher sustainable awareness among consumers, companies have had to adapt their strategies to reach up to the sustainable expectations from the society. The higher demand on sustainable alternatives, have contributed to that the number of sustainable funds have increased with time. The fund companies implementation of more sustainable alternatives, results in a positive marketing for those companies and thereby even a larger profitability. In the same time as the sustainability aspect has become a more popular focus area for the fund companies, the popularity have contributed to more strict regulations. These regulations include that the fund companies have a duty of disclosure towards the investors, who will get the possibility to examine if the fund companies actions, reach up to the investors preferences or not. Young adults have in previous studies, showed to have high sustainable awareness. With that in mind, it seems interesting to study how young adults preferences are and how these affect their attitude to invest in sustainable funds. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to study how students of economics, value sustainable funds today and if they see it likely that they will invest in sustainable funds in the future. The students preferences about sustainable funds, can give an indication on how fund companies can create legitimacy concerning investments in sustainable funds, towards the population in this research. Method: A quantitative research method have been used to study the students of economics, attitudes about investments in sustainable funds. The empirical material have been collected with an online survey, which was sent to the entire population in this study. Hypotheses have been made about how students preferences about sustainability and funds, affects their attitudes on investing in sustainable funds. Result: The results of this study highlights that the students preferences about sustainability and funds, have a positive effect on how their attitudes are about investments in sustainable funds. The result from this study confirms from previous research, that many private investors request funds which fulfill their ethical values. The study shows that young adults, even if they are in the beginning of their life savings, seek after sustainable alternatives. For example, most students consider that they are willing to get a lower return on their savings, if their investments corresponds with their ethical values. Regarding the fund companies, this study shows that sustainable strategies benefits their legitimacy seeking. At the same time, the results from this study shows that if the investments from the sustainable funds are not sustainable, a legitimacy gap can arise towards the population of this study.Limitations: This research is limited to study the preferences of economics students at Högskolan i Borås, which belong to the group of young adults. The limitation was made because a study with all young adults included, would have become to comprehensive. The same thought was behind the decision to only include economics students on one university, instead of including all universities in Sweden. The reason that economics students was choicen to the population, was mainly because these students seems to have more interests in the subject matter of this research.

Det finns både växande intresse och uppmuntran till att investera kapital ansvarsfullt för att bidra till hållbar utveckling. Morningstar är en av flertalet aktörer som erbjuder extern värdering av fonders hållbarhetsprestation i syfte att förse investerare med objektiv bedömning. Syftet med uppsatsen är att utvärdera hur svenska investerare responderar till hållbarhetsverktyget. Målgruppen är begränsad till premiepensionssparare då systemet har hög täckningsgrad av den svenska befolkningen. Paneldatan omfattar 393 av Pensionsmyndighetens fonder i månadsfrekvens från januari 2016 till februari 2021, som resulterar i 24 366 observationer. Frågeställning besvaras genom att undersöka sambandet mellan fonders hållbarhetsbetyg och kapitalflöde eller marknadsvärde med hjälp av ekonometriska modellerna Pooled OLS och Fixed Effects. Målgruppen premiepensionssparare orsakar svåra mätproblem på grund av de dominerande passiva spararna med lång sparhorisont och låg handelsfrekvens. Det kräver mer förarbete i databearbetningen och metodtillämpning för att kunna dra slutsatser. Resultatet visar att hållbarhetsbetygen inte har någon signifikant effekt på kapitalflöde eller marknadsvärdet oavsett fond- eller/och tidsspecifika faktorer. Sambandets obefintlighet kan bero på premiepensionsspararnas demografi, långsiktiga sparhorisont, andra hållbarhetsstrategier och hållbarhetsbetyg samt hållbarhets dynamiskhet. / There are both growing interest and encouragement to invest your capital responsibly to contribute to a sustainable development. Morningstar is one of several players that offer external rating of mutual funds' sustainability performance in order to provide objective valuation to investors. Thus, this thesis paper wants to evaluate how Swedish investors respond to the Morningstar’s sustainability rating. The target group is limited to premiepensionssparare as the system has a high coverage of the Swedish population. The panel data comprises 393 of the Swedish Pensions Agency’s mutual funds in a monthly frequency from January 2016 to February 2021, resulting in 24 366 observations. The thesis question is answered by examining the relationship between mutual funds' sustainability ratings and their capital flow or market value by using the econometric models Pooled OLS and Fixed Effects. However, we are facing measurement difficulties due to the target group of premiepensionssparare being dominated by passive investors with long savings horizons and low trading frequency. This requires additional process of the data before applying the method and drawing conclusions. The results show that the sustainability ratings have no significant effect on capital flow or market value, whether we control for fund and/or time-specific factors. It means that premiepensionssparare do not respond to Morningstar's sustainability ratings. The non-existing relationship may depend on the pension savers’ demography, long-term savings horizon, other sustainable investment strategies and ratings as well as sustainability’s dynamism.

To redirect capital flows towards sustainable investments, the European Union (EU) has implemented the EU Taxonomy, a classification system with definitions for sustainable economic activities. The Taxonomy constitutes a part of the European Green Deal, which is an initiative to transition the EU towards sustainability and competitiveness. The EU Taxonomy is intended to be used by investors when assessing companies to identify sustainable investment opportunities. Investors have great significance in what impacts the EU Taxonomy will have since the regulation relies on investors using it as a tool when assessing whether to invest in a company or not. Additionally, many companies rely on investors for financial support, and it is therefore essential for companies to have information about to what degree investors will integrate the EU Taxonomy in their investment decisions. There is an information gap between companies and investors where companies lack knowledge about how investors will use the Taxonomy to select which companies to invest in.   The aim of the study is to investigate how the EU Taxonomy is affecting investment decisions of Nordic investment firms and institutional investors. Furthermore, the aim is to examine in what ways the EU Taxonomy will shape the future of sustainable investments and how companies utilize the EU Taxonomy to enhance their attractiveness to investors. A qualitative approach has been used in the thesis, and data constituting the results was collected through 12 semi-structured interviews with investors. In conclusion, all interviewed investors have an interest in promoting sustainable investments. The EU Taxonomy has, moreover, been positively received by investors since many of them have been requesting a tool to define sustainable economic activities. 11 of 12 investors in the study, use the EU Taxonomy when evaluating companies to make investment decisions. However, investors are currently evaluating a variety of factors when assessing companies, such as additional ESG performance indicators. Further, investors consider that the Taxonomy cannot exclusively be used when analyzing companies since it is a narrow tool, excluding multiple economic activities and sectors. A high Taxonomy alignment will be a considerable factor for some investors as they believe that companies with high alignment will be more successful. Other investors will continue to invest in companies with low alignment because these companies have potential to become more sustainable over time. All investors are, however, united in that the most important thing is that companies have an ambition to reach a higher alignment. Further, investors have varying approaches when it comes to prioritizing the environmental objectives when assessing companies' sustainability performance. Some investors value how many and which environmental objectives a company contributes to depending on the company´s operations, while others have not yet considered it. The EU Taxonomy´s significance in the future for sustainable investments will depend on different factors, for example the reporting of alignment. Provided that investors integrate the Taxonomy in their decision making, the framework will likely increase the share of investments which take sustainability aspects into account. However, since the EU Taxonomy only covers companies in the EU and exclude sectors, it is questionable how great significance the regulation will have for sustainable investments on a global scale. Lastly, there are several opportunities for companies to become more attractive to investors by working strategically with the EU Taxonomy and communicate ambitions to reach a higher alignment. The results highlight the importance of companies adapting their business model to the Taxonomy and establishing long-term plans for how to reach a higher share of alignment. Companies can, moreover, improve their attractiveness to investors by improving their Taxonomy data collection and presenting the data in an easily accessible way.

The European Union (EU) is attempting to steer capital towards environmentally friendly investments by implementing a new classification system for sustainable investments, the EU Taxonomy. However, the classification system may be ineffective in countries such as Sweden where similar systems already exist. This thesis attempts to understand the effects of the EU system in Sweden by investigating how the investment strategies of actively managed sustainable funds in the Swedish markets are affected. First, the EU Taxonomy was compared to a selection of existing systems for sustainable investments commonly used by sustainable funds in the Swedish markets. The comparison was conducted with respect to six aspects: environmental, social, governance, general, ethical and design. Second, fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees from various fund companies that manage the targeted funds. The comparison showed that the EU Taxonomy differs greatly from the existing systems. The most significant dissimilarities are that (1) the EU Taxonomy is more extensive in the environmental aspect and that (2) the EU system requires the fund companies to conduct more voluminous compliance work. The interview results displayed that (1) the fund companies are generally positive towards the implementation of the EU Taxonomy, (2) they might struggle to conduct the compliance work and (3) the demand from the funds' investors will be a crucial factor for the success of the classification system. The authors concluded that the new classification system has a substantial potential of being effective among actively managed sustainable funds in the Swedish markets. Yet, it is highly dependent on the demand from the funds' investors and on third-party data providers that can facilitate the compliance work. The expected effects are naturally that the funds adjust their investment strategies in line with six environmental objectives defined in the EU Taxonomy. / Europeiska Unionen (EU) planerar att styra kapital mot hållbara investeringar genom att implementera ett nytt klassificeringssystem för hållbara investeringar, EU Taxonomin. Klassificeringssystemet kan dock bli ineffektivt i länder som Sverige där liknande system redan finns. Denna avhandling försöker förstå effekterna av EU-systemet i Sverige genom att undersöka hur investeringsstrategierna för aktivt förvaltade hållbara fonder på de svenska marknaderna påverkas. Först jämfördes EU Taxonomin med ett urval av befintliga system för hållbara investeringar som används av många hållbara fonder på de svenska marknaderna. Jämförelsen genomfördes med avseende på sex aspekter: miljö, socialt, ägarstyrning, generellt, etik och design. Därefter genomfördes fjorton semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från olika fondbolag som förvaltar de avsedda hållbarhetsfonderna. Jämförelsen visade att EU Taxonomin skiljer sig mycket från de befintliga systemen. De mest betydande skillnaderna är att (1) EU Taxonomin inkluderar mer omfattande miljökriterier och att (2) EU-systemet kräver att fondbolagen utför ett mer omfattande efterlevnadsarbete. Resultaten från intervjuerna visade att (1) fondbolagen generellt sett är positiva till implementeringen av EU Taxonomin, (2) att det kan bli en stor utmaning att utföra efterlevnadsarbetet och att (3) efterfrågan från fondernas investerare kommer att vara en avgörande faktor för EU Taxonomins framgång. Slutsatsen är att det nya klassificeringssystemet har goda förutsättningar för att bli effektiv bland aktivt förvaltade hållbara fonder på de svenska marknaderna. Samtidigt är det starkt beroende av efterfrågan från fondernas investerare och av tredjepartsdataleverantörer som kan underlätta efterlevnadsarbetet. De förväntade effekterna är att fonderna anpassar sin investeringsstrategi i linje med de sex miljömål som har definierats i EU Taxonomin.

Conscious customers and the threat of regulations have compelled capital markets around the world to increase their sustainability focus. Today, a fund manager must know how to measure and communicate the sustainability of her fund’s portfolio, which raises the question of how such measurement should be designed? By interviewing decision makers at one of Sweden’s major fund management firms and examining existing sustainability metrics, we identify the key features practitioners want from a sustainability measurement and discuss how existing metrics relate to this. We find that there is an increased need for: (i) capturing the positive contributions the companies in the portfolio have towards a sustainable development, (ii) including each company’s internal capabilities, which reflects important information about the likelihood of future contributions, (iii) relevant peer groups in order to understand the context of a company’s score, and (iv) understanding that sustainability is not a one dimensional issue and therefore should not be treated as one. To meet this need, we argue that the emerging group of metrics based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals could be used as a complement to the currently used risk-focused sustainability metrics. / Medvetna konsumenter och förväntade regleringar har tvingat kapitalmarknader runt om i världen att öka sitt hållbarhetsfokus. Idag ställs det krav på fondförvaltare att mäta och kommunicera sina fonders hållbarhet, vilket ger följdfrågan, hur ska ett sådant hållbarhetsmått vara konstruerat? Genom intervjuer med beslutsfattare på ett av Sveriges ledande fondbolag och en genomgång av befintliga hållbarhetsmått, har vi identifierat några nyckelfaktorer som de vill att ett hållbarhetsmått ska bestå av samt fört en diskussion kring hur de befintliga mätvärdena relaterar till dem. Vi finner ett ökat behov av: (i) att mäta de positiva effekterna ett företag har mot en hållbar utveckling, (ii) inkludering av företagets hållbarhetspotential, vilket påverkar sannolikheten för framtida bidrag, (iii) relevanta jämförelsegrupper för att kunna förstå ett företags bidrag, och (iv) ökad förståelse för att hållbarhet inte är ett endimensionellt problem och därför inte ska hanteras som ett sådant. För att uppnå detta argumenterar vi för att mätvärden baserade på Förenta Nationernas `Sustainable Development Goals' kan användas som ett komplement till de riskfokuserade hållbarhetsmått som används i hög utsträckning idag.

Sustainable investing is an investment trend that has arisen in the past decade. The private equity industry has proven effective in providing financial returns and is increasingly shifting its focus towards green assets. This enables private equity firms to facilitate investors' demand for financial returns alongside non-pecuniary benefits, such as positive environmental impact. Contrary to other funds, private equity firms use their fund capital to invest as a majority owner in private companies that they see potential in actively improving for a few years. This study intends to demystify private equity's value creation by studying the private equity firm Alder's engagements with three selected sustainable portfolio companies, while also suggesting improvements for Alder's future work. The study's research method takes on a qualitative approach, using thirteen semi-structured interviews, to triangulate Alder's perceived value-added within and between portfolio companies. The analysis takes on an abductive approach and results in four levers of impact used by Alder to create value for its portfolio companies. The suggested levers of impact are: i) Alder funds its portfolio companies’ growth endeavours, ii) Alder strengthens its portfolio companies' sustainable profile, iii) Alder supplies its portfolio companies with significant process and industry experience, and iv) Alder ensures a scalable governance structure at each portfolio company. Given these levers of impact, the following suggestions are proposed to Alder: i) Alder should exclusively target private-to-private deals, ii) Alder should target industries it has experience in, iii) Alder should clarify the sustainability ambassador role, iv) Alder should include additional sustainability-linked goals in its owners’ agendas, and v) Alder should continue to appoint an external chairman of the board in each portfolio company. The new suggested levers of impact stem from the finding that the discussion of private equity's value creation would benefit from departing from the traditional levers of impact, initially promoted by Kaplan & Strömberg (2009). That is, financial, governance and operational engineering, as these are found to be of limited relevance, as private equity's active ownership seems to be inherently concerned with corporate governance.

Bakgrund - Den finansiella sektorn har en viktig funktion i omställningen mot ett merhållbart samhälle, där institutionella investerare genom hållbara investeringar kan ha storbetydelse för den hållbara utvecklingen. Samtidigt har hållbarhet också fått en störrebetydelse för institutionella investerare i deras beslut om investeringar. Att göra enhållbarhetsbedömning av potentiella investeringsobjekt har därför blivit en vanligtförekommande handling under institutionella investerares investeringsbeslutsprocess. Syfte - Syftet med rapporten är att skapa förståelse för hur investerare i svenskainvestmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag bedömer företagets hållbarhet inför investeringsbeslut. Metod - Studiens empiriska material har insamlats genom kvalitativa semistruktureradeintervjuer med investerare i svenska investmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag. Därefter har entematisk analysmetod tillämpats för att identifiera, beskriva och analysera teman i detinsamlade empiriska materialet. Resultat - Studiens resultat har visat att det finns ett flertal hållbarhetsrelaterade faktorer somtas i beaktande vid investerares hållbarhetsbedömning av företag. Dessa faktorer är (1) Hållbarhetsengagemang hos portföljföretagets företrädare, (2) Portföljföretagets medvetenhetinom hållbarhetsområdet, (3) Portföljföretagets strategi kopplat till hållbarhet, (4) Portföljföretagets hållbarhetsrelaterade kommunikation, (5) Portföljföretagets internakompetens inom hållbarhetsområdet, (6) Hållbarhetsfunktionens placering i portföljföretaget, (7) Portföljföretagets egen riskbedömning med avseende på hållbarhet och (8) Efterföljandeav hållbarhetsrelaterade regleringar, internationella riktlinjer och certifieringar. Vidare harframkommit att investerare vid bedömningen av företagets hållbarhet tar hänsyn till olikaobjekts- och kontextberoende faktorer, såsom företagets ålder, mognad, storlek, land,branschtillhörighet och företagets riskfylldhet. Slutligen har studiens resultat visat attbetydelsen av hållbarhet i investerares investeringsbeslutsprocess i hög utsträckning skiljersig beroende på investerarens investeringshorisont, investeringsstrategi och tillvägagångssättför hållbara investeringar. Forskningsbegränsningar - Att den empiriska studien endast innefattar investerare i svenskainvestmentbolag och riskkapitalbolag, kan ses som en begränsning. Författarna gjorde dockett aktivt val att inrikta studien mot den svenska kontexten, vilket därmed innebär att deegenskaper som kännetecknar den svenska finansmarknaden, måste tas i beaktande i studiensresultat. Nyckelord - Institutionella investerare, Investeringsbeslutsprocess, Hållbara Investeringar,Signalering, Hållbarhetssignaler / Background - The financial sector has an important function in the transition towards a moresustainable society, where institutional investors through sustainable investments can have agreat impact on sustainable development. Sustainability has also become more important forinstitutional investors in their investment decisions. Making a sustainability assessment ofpotential investment objects has therefore become a common act during institutionalinvestors’ investment decision-making process. Purpose - The purpose of the report is to create an understanding of how investors in Swedish investment companies and venture capital companies assess the company’ssustainability before investment decisions. Method - The study’s empirical material has been collected through qualitativesemi-structured interviews with investors in Swedish investment companies and venturecapital companies. Further, a thematic analysis method has been applied to identify, describeand analyze themes in the collected empirical material. Findings - The results of the study have shown that there are several sustainability-relatedfactors that are taken into account when investors assess the sustainability of companies.These factors are (1) Sustainability commitment of the portfolio company’s representatives,(2) The awareness in the area of sustainability within the portfolio company, (3) The strategylinked to sustainability within the portfolio company, (4) The sustainability-relatedcommunication within the portfolio company, (5) The internal competence in the area ofsustainability within the portfolio company, (6) The location of the sustainability in theportfolio company, (7) The portfolio company’s own risk assessment with regard tosustainability and (8) Following sustainability-related regulations, international guidelinesand certifications. Furthermore, it has emerged that when assessing the company’ssustainability, investors take into account various object- and context-dependent factors, suchas the company’s age, maturity, size, country, industry and the company’s riskiness. Finally,the results of the study have shown that the importance of sustainability in investors’investment decision-making process differs to a large extent depending on the investor’sinvestment horizon, investment strategy and approach to sustainable investment. Research limitations - The fact that the empirical study only includes investors in Swedishinvestment companies and venture capital companies can be seen as a limitation. However,the authors made an active choice to focus the study on the Swedish context, which thusmeans that the characteristics that characterize the Swedish financial market must be takeninto account in the study's results. Keywords - Institutional Investors, Investment Decision Process, Sustainable Investments,Signaling, Sustainability Signals

Green bonds have been an essential financial instrument to fund sustainable projects. While green bonds fulfil a market need, they have also received critiques such as greenwashing and weak requirements. The implementation of the new classification system, the EU Taxonomy, conducted by the European Commission, is believed to be necessary to tackle the received critiques of green bonds. As investors are starting to take interest in the EU Taxonomy, increased demand is shown within the real estate sector to align their green bonds with the EU Taxonomy.  This thesis aims to understand the benefits and challenges for the real estate sector to work with green bonds, the EU Taxonomy, and their alignment. This study was conducted by interviewing 17 participants from four different actor groups active within the real estate sector in Sweden.  The results illustrate challenges, such as the EU Taxonomy being too extensive to work with, reporting challenges and the lack of knowledge in the market. The benefits were that working with a green bond framework aligned with the Taxonomy was more attractive for investors and helped secure funding. Further, the authors discuss two overarching areas of improvement with the current state of the green bond market and the EU Taxonomy: Interpretating the EU Taxonomy and Incentives Within the Market. These two areas further highlight four recommendations to mitigate the challenges identified. The thesis proposes the following recommendations:  Platform to share knowledge and increase transparency  Sector-based classification guide  Adapting to the threshold levels  Stricter (self-regulated) requirements  While it is believed that the market for green bonds and the EU Taxonomy will continue to increase drastically, this thesis argues that the challenges identified above will need to be tackled to allow the green bond market to grow sustainably. / Gröna obligationer har varit ett viktigt finansiellt instrument för att finansiera hållbara projekt. Medan gröna obligationer fyller ett behov på marknaden, har de också fått kritik som greenwashing och svaga krav. Med implementeringen av det nya klassificeringssystemet, EU- taxonomin som införts av EU-kommissionen, anses detta vara det nödvändiga instrumentet för att ta itu med bland annat kritiken av gröna obligationer. Investerare har börjat visa ett ökat intresse för EU-taxonomin, en ökad efterfrågan finns inom fastighetssektorn för att linjera sina gröna obligationer med EU-taxonomin.  Denna avhandling syftar till att förstå fördelarna och utmaningarna för fastighetssektorn att arbeta med gröna obligationer, EU-taxonomin och linjeringen mellan dem. Denna studie genomfördes genom att intervjua 17 deltagare från fyra olika aktörsgrupper som är aktiva inom fastighetssektorn i Sverige.  Resultaten illustrerade utmaningar, som att EU-taxonomin är för omfattande att arbeta med, utmaning med rapportering och bristande kunskap i marknaden. De fördelar som nämndes var att det kan bli mer attraktivt för investerare att arbeta med EU-taxonomin och linjering med gröna obligationer för att säkerställa tillgången till en finansieringskälla i framtiden. Vidare diskuterar författarna två övergripande förbättringsområden med det nuvarande tillståndet på marknaden för gröna obligationer och EU-taxonomin: Tolkningen av EU-taxonomin och Incitament inom marknaden. Dessa två områden lyfter fram fyra rekommendationer för att hantera de identifierade utmaningarna. Avhandlingen föreslår dem följande rekommendationer:  Plattform för att dela kunskap och öka transparens  Sektors-baserad klassificeringsguide  Anpassade tröskelnivåer Skärpta (självreglerande) krav  Eftersom många intressenter tror att marknaden för gröna obligationer och EU-taxonomin kommer att fortsätta att öka drastiskt, hävdar denna avhandling att de utmaningar som identifierats ovan kommer att behöva hanteras för att tillåta gröna obligationsmarknaden att fortsätta växa hållbart.

Ekologisk hållbarhet har de senaste åren tagit allt större plats både i den offentliga debatten men även bland företag och investerare. Detta leder till att fondbolagen måste arbeta med sina produktutvecklingsprocesser för att möta de krav som ställs på hur de arbetar med hållbarhet. Syftet med detta arbete är att bidra till ökad kunskap kring hur fondbolag arbetar med ekologisk hållbarhet i sina produktutvecklingsprocesser. Arbetet undersöker fyra frågeställningar kopplat till fondbolagens arbete med ekologisk hållbarhet. Inledningsvis genomfördes en litteraturstudie för att ge kunskap och förståelse för hur man i finansbranschen arbetar med ekologisk hållbarhet. Fortsättningsvis gjordes en kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjuundersökning där fem representanter från fyra olika fondbolag i Stockholm intervjuades. Det visade sig att det var stor skillnad mellan hur de olika fondbolagen arbetade med integrering av ekologisk hållbarhet både i arbetssätt men också i omfattning. Slutsatserna är att de flesta fondbolag, oavsett vilken sorts förvaltning de bedriver, arbetar med ekologisk hållbarhet. Det kan finnas många anledningar till detta, dels den ökade efterfrågan på marknaden men också tron på ökad avkastning. Det finns också hinder för att arbeta med ekologisk hållbarhet vid investeringar. Dels avsaknaden av utbud, men också ökad risk på grund av minskad diversifiering vid uteslutande av branscher eller bolag. Det saknas fortfarande tydliga riktlinjer för hur man säkerställer om en investering är hållbar eller inte. Den nya taxonomin har som syfte att klargöra det, men det skulle behöva utvecklas ytterligare för att ge en mer nyanserad bild av vad som faktiskt är en hållbar investering. / Ecologic sustainability has become increasingly important in the public debate, as well as among companies and investors in the recent years. This causes the investments companies to further improve their product development processes to meet the requirements concerning sustainability. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge on how investment companies work with ecological sustainability in their product development process. The thesis examines four research questions, all of them linked to the investment companies' work concerning ecological sustainability. Initially, a literature study was conducted to provide the writers with knowledge and understanding of inclusion of ecological sustainability in the financial market. Five representatives representing four different investments companies in Stockholm were interviewed with focus on the integration of ecological sustainability in their product development processes. It has transpired that there was a big difference regarding how different investment companies worked with integration of ecological sustainability in working methods likewise in the scope. In conclusion, most investors somehow work with sustainability. The incentives for working with ecological sustainability varies. First, due to the increased demand from customers on ecologically sustainable products in more recent years. Secondly, many investments companies believe this will give a higher return. Although, the green market is still not big enough to give the investment companies the possibility to invest only in ecological sustainable companies. Also, reduced diversification can lead to an increased risk. Furthermore, there is still a shortage of guidelines concerning how an investment company can ensure whether an investment is sustainable or not. The new taxonomy aims to clarify this, although, it still has a need of further development in order to give a more nuanced picture of what actually is a sustainable investment.

In Sweden, savings in funds today is one of the most popular forms of savings. Through both active and passive choices, almost all Swedes are exposed to the fund market, where mutual funds are the most popular type of funds. A clear majority of these funds are actively managed, which means that one or more fund managers actively work with the investments of the funds, with the aim to outperform the market. This method of management has been hotly debated in recent years, when many scientists claim that fund managers generally fail to outperform the market in long term. At the same time, interest in sustainability investments has increased in recent years, which is reflected in the fund market where sustainability funds have become increasingly popular. This essay therefore focuses on these sustainability funds, with focus on comparing large banks with web-based fund companies. The large banks in Sweden have been criticized for the way they are working seen from a customer perspective, but their funds are still very popular. Against this background, the study aims to investigate whether one can find any differences in performance of actively managed sustainability funds between large banks and web-based fund companies. Using four different models to measure risk-adjusted return of security portfolios, the funds have been examined to see if it is possible to find any patterns in terms of performance and the type of company that manages the funds. The survey results show that there is a clear difference in performance between the large banks and the web-based fund companies, whereby the latter succeed much better. Of the four models used, the large banks do not outperform the market under one model, while the web-based companies manage to outperform the market according to three of the models. Thus it can be stated that if you are interested in saving money in actively managed sustainability funds, it is the web-based companies to turn to. As previously mentioned, the large banks funds are very popular, which means that Swedish private investors have much money to gain by allowing web-based companies to manage their money, rather than large banks.