Socially responsible investors, those concerned about environmental, social and corporate governance issues, are having a noticeable effect on the financial services industry, spawning increased demand for new investment products and programs, as well as shareholder activism.

According to The Impact of Sustainable and Responsible Investment, a report by the US SIF Foundation, investors defined as sustainable, responsible, or impact investors, are dawning a new day for the investment industry and in turn public companies, communities and policies by making the influence of their assets under management more pronounced.

One out of every $6 under professional management, or $6.57 trillion, now has an “ethical” bent to it. Assets managed in this fashion have spiked 76 percent between 2012 and 2014.

“Since we released the first edition of this report in 2013, the interest in sustainable and impact investing has grown dramatically and its practice has become more widespread,” says Lisa Woll, who heads both the US SIF and the US SIF Foundation.

The US SIF Foundation is a 501c3 organization that undertakes educational, research and programmatic activities to advance the mission of US SIF, a leading sustainable investment trade organization.

Illustrating the trend, the rating and analytical firms MSCI and Morningstar, this year each launched ESG products. In addition, Wall Street firms and fund managers have embraced impact investing products for retail investors. Heretofore, impact investing, where investors seek out investments in private equity or the public markets that wage positive influence on social issues such as affordable house, health, education, and the like, has been largely practiced by high-net-worth individuals and institutions.

The US SIF report notes that the growing presence of socially conscious investors has, among other things, led to numerous improvements in company environmental practices.  For example, it says, several major U.S. food companies agreed to obtain 100 percent of the palm oil for their products from responsibly produced sources that do not clear cut tropical forests -- a practice that leads to widespread deforestation and degradation.

From a growth in community investing, both domestically and internationally, to corporate board resolutions, attributable results from SRI can be shown.

One major policy success the SIF points to is the rescinding of a 2008 bulletin that had discouraged fiduciaries for private-sector retirement plans from considering environmental and social factors in their investments. In its place, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez issued guidance that fiduciaries may incorporate “ESG-related tools, metrics and analyses to evaluate an investment’s risk or return or choose among otherwise equivalent investments.”

This, no doubt is a further boon to the industry, as it will allow socially conscious investments to be included in retirement plans. Given the baby boom generation’s coming of retirement, this adds high-grade fuel to an investment sector that is already moving ahead quickly.