The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) published a market study on sustainability-related retail funds, concluding that Austrian funds marketed with environmental, social or governance (ESG) criteria generally apply those criteria in practice and that greenwashing has not been identified among Austrian investment funds to date. As at 30 September 2025, 493 Austrian retail funds considered sustainability or ESG-related characteristics, with total net assets of EUR 76.0 billion and a 61% share of retail fund assets. Within this group, 169 funds with assets totalling EUR 34.9 billion included sustainability-related terms in their names. After strong net inflows in recent years, the segment saw slight net outflows in the third quarter of 2025, signalling stabilisation. Greenwashing remains a supervisory focus, supported by targeted reviews of disclosures and compliance with stated investment strategies using an in-house greenwashing analysis framework that applies automated text analysis and artificial intelligence. The analysis also finds that stronger sustainability claims are associated with more sustainable investments, with Austrian Ecolabel (UZ49) funds subject to strict standards and generally prohibited from investing in weapons and defence. Sustainability-oriented funds in Austria were reported to have very low exposure to these sectors, despite the European Commission’s view that there is no general contradiction between the EU sustainability framework and investment in weapons and defence.

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