Fueled by increased investor demand, Charles Schwab in November will list all of its socially conscious mutual funds and exchange traded funds separately.

The list will be based on Morningstar data and will be complemented with a proprietary select listing of ESG investment products, according to Heather Fischer, vice president of ETF platform management at Charles Schwab.

“Our goal is to help investors interested in socially conscious investing,” says Fischer.

Assets under management in the socially conscious sector have spiked in recent years and continue to grow. According to the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, SRI investment dollars have grown from more than $3.5 trillion in 2012 to more than $6.5 trillion in 2014, the last year for which data exist.

To be sure, SRI flows have increased at Schwab, too, but Fischer says investors are still “toe-dipping.” Information, education, and product offerings have kept investors somewhat on the SRI sidelines. Schwab’s new platform push is a way to get more of them engaged and invested.

“The bottom line is we are seeing a trend upward,” Fischer says.

Bill Belden, head of ETF product development and management at Guggehneim Investments, says there has been a change in investors’ mindsets that is manifesting into SRI growth. “They are moving from exclusionary to inclusionary,” says Belden. That means rather than filtering companies from an investment universe based on SRI criteria, investors are looking for companies that create impact across specific environmental, social and corporate governance areas.

David Mazza, head of ETF research for State Street Global Advisors, takes it a step further and says companies themselves are realizing their business is more positively affected by integrating socially conscious concepts into their day-to-day practices.
For investors, this beckons notice; something Schwab is helping to highlight.