Sustainability

Creating a sustainable future

We recognise that, increasingly, customers and clients are looking to align their investments with their environmental and social values and have a range of Planet+ funds with the potential to help meet this need.

Our range of Planet+ funds will seek to deliver ESG, Sustainable or Impact objectives and outcomes in addition to their financial objectives. These funds also have a minimum set of exclusions, beyond cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines, which are:

• companies involved in the controversial weapons industry
• companies deemed to be in breach of the United Nations Global Compact Principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption
• companies involved in tobacco (production, trading and distribution)*
• adult entertainment (production and those deriving revenue from that business)*
• companies providing gambling services*

*Thresholds apply - max revenue of 5% from producers and max revenues of 10% from distributors

Impact

• Seek to deliver a dual objective: measurable positive impact alongside financial return
• Aim to invest in companies that deliver material, measurable positive societal impacts by addressing the world’s major social and environmental challenges, framed against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Provide transparent impact reporting

Sustainable

One or more elements may apply:

• The investment universe is driven by sustainability considerations, which might include climate change mitigation, pollution prevention, sustainability solutions (environmental, social) and approaches that address one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  
• There is a clear ambition, supported by explicit targets, to drive sustainability across the portfolio
• An investment approach that selects companies/issuers with strong ESG credentials  

ESG+ funds

• Apply a Positive tilt to companies/issuers with better ESG characteristics (e.g. excluding ESG laggards)