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ESG criteria and considerations
Sustainable funds are not all the same
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are the three pillars of sustainable investing. As such, fund managers will typically consider the following within these three areas when analysing investment opportunities:
- Environmental issues or factors – the environmental issues considered by responsible investors when analysing investments. Examples include climate change, resource depletion waste, pollution and deforestation.
- Social factors – the social, or people related, issues considered by investors when analysing investments. For example, a company may be assessed on its approach to human rights, modern slavery, child labour, working conditions and employee relations. Fund manager approaches vary.
- Governance factors – the corporate governance issues considered by responsible investors when analysing investments. For example, a company may be assessed on its approach to bribery and corruption, executive pay, board diversity and structure, political lobbying or donations and tax strategy.
A potential issue for investors is that sustainable funds adopt different policies and investment approaches. SRI Services, an independent and specialist business with over three decades of experience in sustainable investment, has developed a set of ‘SRI Styles’ in order to make comparisons easier:
Implications when recommending funds
Some clients may be satisfied that a fund is managed on a broadly sustainable basis. Stocks from certain ‘sin’ sectors may be included, for example, if the company has demonstrated that their ESG credentials are moving in the right direction. However, due to ethical, moral or religious considerations, other clients may state that certain stocks or industry sectors should be avoided completely.
It is therefore important to check a fund’s investment approach and policy on exclusions before making a recommendation.
In our
Adviser Guide to Sustainable Investing, we examine the various types of funds and approaches in more detail.
Adviser guide to sustainable investing
To aid your client discussions, we’ve produced a guide that explains all things ESG to your clients.
Sustainable investing glossary
Our glossary defines some of the more frequently-used terms in this field of investment.
Sustainable Investment Finder
Our tool is designed to make the process of selecting sustainable funds easier. Take a look at how it could help to identify potential fund solutions, whatever a client’s sustainable outlook may be.