Specifically, over the next five years, 63% of investors are planning a gradual increase in their private market exposure, while 8% are planning a significant increase in this allocation.
Infrastructure was the most popular asset among investors seeking to upgrade their private market allocations over the next two years, picked by 58% of such investors.
"Investors are turning to infrastructure to help protect portfolios from inflation among other critical needs, such as increasing yield and mitigating climate risk," said Mike Perry, head of Nuveen's global client group, in a news released issued in conjunction with the survey. "Infrastructure's ability to play multiple roles is a key driver of increased allocations."
In addition, 58% of investors are either "actively rethinking" (31%) or "redefining and reallocating" (27%) their portfolios. Almost half (48%) are reformulating how they calculate capital market assumptions, 38% are making significant tactical allocation changes and 27% are making foundational changes to their strategic asset allocation, the survey revealed.
"Across the board, global investors are reassessing their views on risk and return, and preparing for a new market regime," Mr. Perry said in the news release. "Institutional investors typically take a measured, incremental approach to portfolio changes. That makes the degree to which investors today are contemplating or making very significant changes even more striking."
The survey was conducted by Nuveen and research firm CoreData in October and November, and focused on 800 institutions around the world with a minimum asset level of $500 million each.
Among other findings, investors in the survey selected energy supply disruptions, population demographic shifts and deglobalization as the major global trends that will impact their portfolios over the next five years.
In addition, some 80% of investors believe the world is "changing dramatically" and that portfolio strategies need to keep pace with such shifts, while 74% said the influence of geopolitics on investment strategies is greater now than it has been over the past 30 years.
With respect to climate change, 61% of investors are currently considering climate risk when making investment decisions, while another 22% plan to do so.
"These considerations can result in actions such as investing in new green energy opportunities, reducing allocations to companies or industries with high carbon emissions, and actively engaging with management teams to advocate for more climate-aware policies," said Amy O'Brien, Nuveen's global head of responsible investing, in the release.
"Though most investors are early on in developing specific climate-risk reporting procedures, the high percentage of investors focusing on climate risk illustrates just how central it is to many investors' portfolio objectives," Ms. O'Brien added.
