Sustainable investing
Everyone’s a stakeholder when it comes to sustainability
Build resilience
We believe sustainable assets can make for more resilient investments over the long run
Understand potential
Understanding the positive and negative consequences of an assets’ activities for the planet and its people is important for assessing long term potential value
Access proprietary tools
We have developed a suite of proprietary tools that enable ESG integration and sustainable investing across multiple asset classes
The risks of only looking at financial risk and return
Profit margins. Potential growth. Market capitalisation. There are many ways of evaluating a company’s worth. But companies don’t exist in a vacuum. The way they behave has real-life consequences – negative and positive. If you don’t take this into account, you aren’t getting the full picture.
The bottom line is ESG can affect the bottom line
That’s why when we build portfolios, we look at a vast array of ESG factors and impacts a company, government or asset has on people and the planet. Ignoring these could mean missing the risks and opportunities faced by our investments. These factors can translate into financial costs, such as carbon taxes, stranded assets or even fines from poor governance. Consumer trends are also shifting towards sustainable practices, so it’s important that companies prepare their business models for this change in demand.
For us, sustainability isn’t just about making better investment decisions – it is also about continuing to push for progress. Our active ownership ethos means we engage with the companies and assets we invest in, using our influence to encourage them to employ more sustainable practices in order to enhance their long-term value.
Our sustainability journey
We have built our sustainable investing experience over the past 20 years, developing our thematic sustainability research and a suite of proprietary tools. Our research and tools provide insights which help our investors understand the various sustainability risks and opportunities faced across their portfolios.
We support companies’ transition to more sustainable business models through engagement and voting, using our voice to influence behaviours and hold companies to account.
As a founding member of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, we are taking action to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050 across the investments we manage and our own operations. Our decarbonisation targets have been validated by the Science-Based Target initiative. Our Climate Transition Action Plan sets out our strategy for achieving them.
As a company, we also have a corporate responsibility role in society. We aim to contribute to a more equal and inclusive society through donations, volunteering and collaborative action. These include supporting underprivileged children in the US and addressing inequality in London.
“We believe sustainable companies are more resilient in the long term. So sustainable investing can benefit all stakeholders, not only shareholders”
Head of Sustainability, North America
Finding ourselves in the ESG avocado
Considering sustainability factors as a component of proper investing appears to be both necessary and unobjectionable. This applies to both ESG integration into investment decisions as well as active ownership.