This Sub-Fund has sustainable investments as its objective.
It addresses the UN’s Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) and invests primarily in biodiversity “fixers” (companies which through their revenues are reducing biodiversity loss) and value-chain champion companies (companies which are not necessarily traditional impact companies but have huge supply chains (i.e. supply goods globally) and are taking this responsibility seriously (i.e. verify via key indicators that biodiversity goals are the main focus).It invests in shares of worldwide companies (including Emerging countries).
The investment process relies on a proprietary scoring system, the IMAP which measures the Intentionality, Materiality, Additionality and Potentiality of a company’s impact. Only companies with a minimum IMAP score of 12 out of 20 can enter the portfolio.
Furthermore, the Investment Manager performs a negative screening: Companies which are directly involved in the production of conventional, nuclear and controversial weapons are excluded, as well as companies which are directly involved in tobacco production, gambling, adult entertainment, thermal coal extraction and unconventional oil & gas extraction. In addition, there are exclusions, with revenue thresholds applied, for those companies directly involved in tobacco distribution, conventional oil and gas extraction and electricity utilities generating power from nuclear, oil and gas or coal. This Sub-Fund also excludes all companies in breach of international norms, such as the UN Global Compact.
To ensure sustainable investments that this Sub-Fund intends to make do not cause significant harm, the Investment Manager relies on an internally-designed methodology which covers principal adverse impacts, SDG misalignment, controversies and overall ESG and governance quality.
In particular, the governance element is monitored by the Investment Manager through its own analysis of resolutions proposed to shareholders, its engagement with portfolio companies on any governance issue raised by external ESG data providers, and the analysis of governance-related controversies.
This Sub-Fund will be primarily invested in sustainable investments, with a minimum of 80%. These sustainable investments will include at all times a mix of environmentally sustainable investments, including a minimum of 1% Taxonomy-aligned investments.
The binding criteria used to attain the sustainable investment objective are integrated in control systems, to ensure pre- and post trade checks. Compliance is monitored by the Risk department on an ongoing basis.
The Investment Manager may use data reported directly by issuers or sourced from third-party data providers such as MSCI ESG Research or Morningstar Sustainalytics. The service and data quality provided by third-party ESG data providers are reviewed regularly.
Depending on the metric considered, some data may be estimated by data providers. Although the Investment Manager applies a thorough selection process of third-party providers, their processes and proprietary ESG methodology may be flawed. As a result, there is a risk of incorrectly assessing an issuer, resulting in an inappropriate capture of ESG risks and potential incorrect inclusion or exclusion in the product. This is expected to have limited impact on the overall environmental and/or social characteristics promoted by the product.
The investment due diligence process ensures that the investment decisions comply with the objectives and the investment strategy of the Sub-Fund. The consideration of sustainability-related risks is integrated into the investment decision-making process to ensure better-informed investment decisions as well as awareness of the risk exposure. The first level of due diligence is conducted by investment teams, while the second level is conducted by the Risk department.
Bilateral engagement is a critical element of the investment process and is conducted by the investment team at minimum on an annual basis. Further collaborative engagement with investee companies may occur on an ad-hoc basis.
The Investment Manager exercises its voting rights in line with the voting policy which follows sustainability principles.
No specific index has been designated as a reference benchmark to meet the sub-fund’s sustainable investment objective.
For more information, please see the fund’s Sustainability-related disclosures.
