Worldwide pension funds, in their capacity as large institutional investors, are under increasing pressure to take social and environmental considerations into account in their investment decision-making process. The concepts Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) are indeed ubiquitous in the current investment and pension community. This article aims to provide some insight into the conceptual relationship between SRI and ESG and its legal implications for the investment behaviour of private pension funds in the USA and the EU. Hence, the first part of the article gives some background to the distinct concepts of SRI and ESG. This leads to the finding that SRI goes one step further than ESG by prioritising moral or ethical considerations that may not be material to an investment’s financial performance, whereas ESG functions as a guideline to enhance financial performance. The second part analyses the legal possibilities and constraints for responsible investment in American occupational pensions and the third part does the same for European occupational pensions. The article concludes with a summary and comparative overview of the American and European lessons.

作为大型机构投资者，全球养老基金面临越来越大的压力，需要在其投资决策过程中考虑社会和环境因素。社会责任投资 (SRI) 和环境社会治理 (ESG) 的概念在当前的投资和养老金社区中确实无处不在。本文旨在深入了解 SRI 和 ESG 之间的概念关系及其对美国和欧盟私人养老基金投资行为的法律影响。因此，本文的第一部分为 SRI 和 ESG 的不同概念提供了一些背景知识。这导致发现 SRI 比 ESG 更进一步，优先考虑可能对投资的财务业绩不重要的道德或伦理考虑，而 ESG 则是提高财务业绩的指导方针。第二部分分析了美国职业养老金负责任投资的法律可能性和约束，第三部分对欧洲职业养老金进行了同样的分析。文章最后对美国和欧洲的教训进行了总结和比较概述。