Young people are the influencers of the investing generations

Each generation looks at sustainability through a different lens. Yet there is no generational conflict. ‘All generations have their own strengths, and they reinforce each other,’ is the view at KBC.

While baby-boomers mainly rely on themselves as individuals, millennials prefer to consume from sustainable companies and Gen Z Zoomers mainly believe in the potential of technology to solve societal problems. Yet sustainability is consistently treated as a concern of the younger generations. ‘So-called contradictions between generations are exaggerated and contrasted. In reality, however, each generation has its own strengths, and they can reinforce each other,’ says Jürgen Verschaeve, Chief Investment Officer at KBC.

Great credit is due to young people for raising awareness of sustainability, for example in the numerous climate marches. ‘Young people are the influencers of the older generations,’ says Joke Reynaerts, General Manager of KBC Private Banking and Wealth Management. ‘They are the engine for change, for both their parents and grandparents. As a result, often encourage previous generations to invest sustainably.’

Because while young people certainly have the conviction, they do not always have the financial means to invest in sustainability. Reynaerts says: ‘Young people care a lot about sustainability, but it is the older households with children and grandchildren who are the most sustainable investment clients. Spurred on by the younger generations, they are becoming increasingly aware that by investing sustainably, they can have a positive influence on the future of their children and grandchildren.’ This doesn’t mean that young people themselves have no options, however. For instance, KBC has made a deliberate choice to offer only a sustainable variant of its retirement savings products.

The younger generations are growing up in a world in which they are confronted with major social issues, such as climate change and inequality, through their smartphones. They are standing up for intergenerational justice: they want to make sure we do not live our lives at the expense of future generations. 

Despite all the focus on sustainability and SRI, we seem to be moving only slowly towards a more sustainable world and intergenerational justice. ‘That slow progress is often due to ‘present bias’. That’s a common fallacy, in which we find it difficult to imagine ourselves in the future and therefore focus too much on the present. It’s like with technology: we are often disappointed with the short-term effect of our actions, whilst underestimating their long-term impact’, says Reynaerts. ‘What we do for the environment today has a long-term impact, in just the same way as what we did ten, twenty or thirty years ago has an impact today. Remember, people born today will still be around in 2100.’