ESG investment

Our suite of ESG funds

Our ESG investment options are built around funds that support progress in environmental, social or (corporate) governance (ESG) initiatives. They’re one of the ways we give your clients access to responsible investment opportunities, offering the potential for long-term investment returns by allocating capital across assets that meet strict environmental, social and governance criteria. 

We now have a full suite of ESG funds, including:

• Sustainable Index World Equity Fund
• Multi-Asset ESG Fund
• Global Equity Impact Fund
• Global Corporate Bond SRI Fund

The Sustainable Index World Equity Fund

The fund combines the benefits of an environment, social and governance (ESG) investment approach and passive investing all in one fund. This fund, which is managed by abrdn, is a passive sustainable global equity fund, and combines the greater demand for passive investing, with a sustainable overlay.
 
The fund seeks to deliver improved sustainability outcomes with higher ESG scores, lower carbon intensity, and higher revenue from green sources.

It will exclude companies that are involved in controversial industries, such as, tobacco production and distribution, thermal coal & unconventional oil and gas, and controversial weapons. The fund also excludes companies involved in Very Severe Controversies (defined as companies with an MSCI ESG Controversy score of 0 out of 10). This includes those that have failed to uphold one or more principles of the UN Global Compact.

The Multi-Asset ESG Fund

Combining our Global Equity Impact Fund and Global Corporate SRI Bond Fund, this fund provides investors with a globally-diversified portfolio of assets. Typically, it takes a balanced view of lower and higher risk assets, holding a mix of global equities and global investment-grade fixed income securities, including:

Impact Equities 
The equity approach is to invest for impact- in other words, in companies whose products and services have a positive and measurable societal and environmental impact on the world.

Socially responsible bonds 
The bonds in the fund aim to invest in securities from companies that:

• have a lower carbon footprint that other companies in the same industry
• are tilted towards higher ESG scoring companies and those with lower risks around people and the planet.

In terms of how the fund is built, it will be equally split between impact equities and global investment grade SRI corporate bonds. It’s rebalanced to 50:50 on a monthly basis.
 

The Global Equity Impact Fund

This fund actively looks for opportunities to invest in initiatives that address issues relating to climate change, social inequality and unsustainable production and consumption methods.

Investment areas might include sustainable energy, recycling, health and social care, sanitation, education and employment, agriculture, housing and financial inclusion.

Seeking to generate long-term capital growth, the fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 35-60 global companies aiming to create positive, measurable environmental and/or social impacts.

The Global Corporate Bond Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) Fund

This fund invests in bonds from companies that demonstrate a socially responsible approach and aims to invest in securities from companies with a lower carbon footprint than contemporaries in the same industry. The fund is also tilted towards higher ESG scoring companies and those with lower risks around people and the planet.

The aim is to generate strong long-term performance by investing predominantly in global investment grade corporate bonds.

European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

In March 2021, the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) came into force. It established a European wide framework to facilitate sustainable investments. Its main goal is to make the sustainability characteristics of funds more comparable and easy to understand for investors. See more on EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).