Fewer Canadian retail investors say they know what responsible investments (RI) are now than they did a year ago, reflecting a need for greater investor education from financial advisors and institutions, the Responsible Investment Association (RIA) said in a report released Tuesday.
The report is based on results from a survey of 1,001 Canadian retail investors. The online poll was conducted by Ipsos between Feb. 11 and 26.
The 10th annual RIA Investor Opinion Survey found that investors’ knowledge of RI declined compared to last year, with 71% saying they had either never heard of RI or knew little or nothing about it, up from 66%. Also, the share of respondents who said they knew a fair bit about RI decreased to 23% from 28% over the past year.
In the report, Patricia Fletcher, CEO of the RIA, said this knowledge gap is “closely linked to one of the most consistent findings across out research: the gap between investor expectations and advisor engagement.”
As Fletcher pointed out, 73% of survey respondents said they would like their financial advisor or institution to be required to ask them specific questions about RI considerations that align with their values, down slightly from 76% in 2025. However, only 28% reported that their financial services provider had ever posed such questions, unchanged from a year ago.
That’s despite the fact that interest in RI has remained steady.
The survey found that two-thirds (67%) of investors are interested in RI, which was on par with 2025.
And, as was the case in previous years, younger respondents showed more interest in RI than older respondents. About 76% of those aged 18–34 said they’re either very or somewhat interested. By comparison, that dropped to 69% of those in the 35–54 age group, and 57% among those aged 55 or older.
Still, respondents expressed confidence in advisors’ knowledge of RI.
The majority (84%) said advisors are very or somewhat important sources of information for making investment decisions related to RI (slightly down from 88% last year), followed by financial institutions (81% versus 84% in 2025). Meanwhile, news media was cited as a very or somewhat important source of RI information by 52% of respondents, a bump from 48% a year ago.
The poll also found that RI adoption among Canadian investors has remained fairly stable.
About 28% of investors said they owned such investments at the time of the survey, which was on par with last year, though a drop from 33% in 2023. Once again, younger investors had the highest level of RI adoption (40% invested in the space in the 18–34 age group, compared to 29% in the 35–54 cohort and 17% of those aged 55 and older).
Confusion around RI adoption declined over the past year, with 38% of respondents saying they weren’t sure if they owned such investments this year, compared to 44% last year.
Among those who do currently own RI, 47% said they expected to increase their allocations to these investments over the next year, and an equal proportion said they would maintain their level of investment in these vehicles. Another 1% of respondents said they planned to decrease their RI allocations and 5% said they weren’t sure.
The survey further unveiled the key barriers to RI adoption.
Greenwashing and lack of knowledge about RI funds were each cited by 66% of respondents as the main barrier to investing in the space, followed by unclear fund labels at 64%.
“Second to greenwashing, lack of knowledge about RI is cited as one of the top deterrents to investing in RI funds,” the report said. “Financial advisors and institutions are uniquely positioned to address this barrier by providing support to investors through education.”