Scores for ESG Funds Coming in ’15-’16

"One of Morningstar's core values is 'investors first.' As part of our mission of helping investors reach their financial goals, we have a long tradition of innovative research centered on good stewardship, lower costs, and more transparency for investors," Hale explains. "Providing fund scores on environmental, social and governance factors is a natural extension of our work."

Morningstar's announcement comes on the cusp of several recent studies that show investors and the financial services industry are placing increasing importance on ESG policies and practices. As Michael Jantzi, chief executive officer of Sustainalytics, said in a statement, "ESG considerations, once viewed from the sidelines, are increasingly front and center for fund investors."

A February 2015 Morgan Stanley survey of 800 investors reported that 71% said they were interested in ESG investing. The firm's research also found that Millenial investors are twice as likely to invest in companies or funds that target ESG outcomes than the general investing population and that women are two times as likely asmen to consider both the rate of return and the positive impact of companies and funds when investing.

In addition, according to a report from Spectrem Group in April, more than one-quarter of investors under the age of 45 allocate at least 25% of their investable assets in socially responsible companies. Further, the number of signatories on the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investing declaration has grown dramatically from nine signers in 2006 to nearly 1,380 asset owners, investment managers and service providers with $59 trillion in AUM on board.

Not only are more investors expressing an increased interest in ESG or "socially responsible" investing, but ESG assets are also growing quickly. During a panel of ESG experts in June that ESG investing has exploded in assets under management since 1995, when there was under $640 billion tagged to it, Hale said. Today that amount is $6.2 trillion.