We are pleased to launch our sixth annual responsible investment report.
A refreshed strategy
Since becoming a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2007, we have made steady progress integrating environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors into the wide range of investment processes used across our business.
As a result, our standing in the PRI’s annual benchmark has steadily increased. Since 2011, we ranked among the top 25% of fund managers globally in five of the six principles. The PRI did not release a benchmarking report for 2012, but we have not stinted in our efforts to refine our processes and practices.
Our commitment
In 2012, we took the opportunity to review our progress to date and as a consequence we have expanded the scope of, and developed a new global RI strategy.
To formalise and streamline our approach to Responsible Investment, we recently hired Will Oulton as our new Global Head of Responsible Investment. Based in London, Will is supported by Pablo Berutti, who was hired to build on our strong presence in this filed in Australia. Pablo will be leading our RI activity in the Asia Pacific region.
As part of our global strategy, we aspire “to be recognised as a global leader in responsible investment by our clients, stakeholders, peers and industry”. We hope to achieve this by building upon our progress in implementing the principles of the PRI, ensuring we employ the mindset, thinking and actions of a responsible asset manager at all levels and in all areas of our business. In practice this means:
- continually striving for improved practices in ESG integration;
- understanding and measuring our impacts;
- monitoring, measuring and reporting on our progress;
- working with our clients on their issues and areas of interest;
- strengthening our participation in industry collaborations; and
- engaging our employees globally in our responsible investment work.
Our approach, in depth
In our recently published report, each of our investment teams articulate how the principles of Responsible Investment are embedded across their portfolios. In the report we outline:
- our RI principles across our complete range of strategies (equities, fixed income, direct property, unlisted infrastructure);
- examples of active engagement with companies on ESG issues; and
- each team’s view of issues that are likely to impact clients in 2013.
