Schroder Investment Solutions launches three guides to support financial advisers with sustainability credentials
Schroder Investment Solutions has launched three sustainability-focused guides in response to client feedback.
These new publications look to provide a potential starting point for advisers considering the impact on their business of key topics such as Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and the Gender Pay Gap and how to approach carbon offsetting.
This is following the launch of Schroders’ Sustainability Scorecard Initiative in October 2022, a tool which enables advisers to assess the sustainability of their own business.
They entail:
- Guide to Carbon Offsetting: Explains how carbon offsetting can help advisory businesses reduce their environmental impact and contribute to the goal of net zero emissions
- Guide to Diversity and Inclusion: Outlines the importance of having a diversity and inclusion policy and provides guidance on how to create one, measure progress, and the potential benefits of doing so
- Guide to Gender Pay Gap: This one-pager helps advisory firms of all sizes understand the benefits of assessing the Gender Pay Gap irrespective of whether the rules currently apply to their business and why this knowledge might be useful for retaining and hiring talent
The Scorecard was designed as an engaging way for advisers to continue to upskill themselves in specific areas of sustainability across environmental, social and governance factors by considering the credentials of their own businesses.
Amongst others, the Scorecard reviews areas such as carbon offsetting, the use of clean energy, levels of recycling and single use plastic, as well as policies such as flexible working, D&I, charitable donations and volunteering.
Gillian Hepburn, Head of UK Intermediary Solutions, Schroders, commented:
“The Scorecard was designed specifically to support advisers with sustainability in a more engaging way. A secondary benefit was that by focusing on their own business, this might identify opportunities for change which could in turn make their businesses more valuable and also help to attract and retain talent.
“However, the recent Schroders Financial Adviser Pulse Survey[1] indicated that the number of advisers feeling confident about speaking with their clients on the topic of sustainable investing continues to fall. Feedback as a result of the Scorecard Initiative also indicated that whilst a focus on environmental factors was often being addressed, gaps where Schroders could deliver some support still remained.
“We are therefore delighted to be launching three guides based on this feedback with a focus on supporting smaller advice businesses, in particular those who indicated that they didn’t have the skills or resource to consider areas such as D&I or the Gender Pay Gap, but appreciated that adoption in some way could be beneficial to their businesses.“
[1] Schroders Financial Adviser Pulse Survey, May 2023