Sustainable Investment Awards 2019

Asset manager Robeco aims to "remain at the cutting edge" of environmental, social and governance (ESG) financing as it develops into the mainstream, said Peter Walsh, managing director and head of Robeco UK.

The #Togetherband initiative aims to use creativity and culture to raise public awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire action to achieve the goals through fashion, contemporary art, music and film.

The Carbon Earnings at Risk (CEaR) analytics product was piloted by S&P subsidiary Trucost in 2018 and launched early this year. It is used to stress-test a company's current ability to absorb future carbon prices and to help understand the potential earnings at risk from carbon pricing at a portfolio level.

The 2018 Impact Reports from Triodos Bank's asset management arm Triodos Investment Management (IM) won the award for Best ESG Reporting by an Asset or Fund Manager: medium or small.

M&G's Impact Financing Fund was billed when it launched last year as the first fund to invest predominately in private and illiquid debt to achieve a positive social or environmental impact.

A major boost to ESG investing in recent years has been its growing adoption by the $100 trillion bond market.

MAN Group, a FTSE-listed investment manager, stresses the use of the latest technology across its business to help it deliver strong returns on the $112 billion of assets it manages.

Affirmative Investment Management (AIM) is a specialist, employee-owned firm, managing fixed income portfolios that generate environmental and social impact.

Getting Physical: Scenario analysis for assessing climate-related risks reveals the climate-related risks that pose a threat to the economies of many US state and local bond issuers.

Fitch Ratings launched its integrated scoring system, which shows how environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors impact individual credit rating decisions, in January. It claims it is "the only credit ratings agency (CRA) who currently offers this level of granularity or transparency about the impact of ESG on fundamental credit."

The environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting package from BMO Global Asset Management (GAM) includes: an annual report reviewing the firm's responsible investment activities over the year; ESG profile and impact reports; thought pieces from the responsible investment team; engagement and voting statistics with data going back to 2006; and information on participation in industry events.

When it launched an impact fund dedicated to biodiversity conservation, Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) said it was necessary to create a "new paradigm" for investing that aligns financial returns with long-term conservation.

Investec Asset Management (IAM) has developed a process which can be applied to dedicated ESG funds or broader mandates to actively reduce carbon emissions while also including companies that benefit from structural growth areas of a decarbonising economy.

The Veterans CARE (Coordinated Approach to Recovery and Employment) initiative is a 'pay for success' project that aims to help 480 US army veterans to find a stable, quality job.

ESG research and ratings provider Sustainalytics scooped two of the Sustainable Investment Awards outright and shared a third with GRESB.

Insight Investment has "pioneered new environmental, social and governance approaches to fixed income" over the past year, including two new ESG risk models.

Amsterdam-based GRESB - which describes itself as the leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments - was launched in 2009 by a group of large pension funds.

Sackers' guide for pension schemes on implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investment strategy was praised by awards judges as "practical thought leadership that could help to move the dial".

Helping to drive a number of transformative initiatives saw sustainable finance veteran Rory Sullivan named as Personality of the Year.

A series of mandate wins capped a strong year for Impax Asset Management.

BlackRock's ESG Emerging Markets Debt (EMD) Funds are a new product range designed to provide investors with access to all segments of emerging market debt, while incorporating ESG screens.

According to UBS Global Wealth Management, private investors are increasingly looking to invest their entire portfolio sustainably.

The $840 million Pax Global Environmental Markets Fund invests in companies that are developing "innovative solutions to resource challenges".

S&P Dow Jones Indices (DJI) launched a new environmental, social and governance (ESG) index, the S&P 500 ESG Index, based on its most widely used benchmark, the S&P 500.

The Triodos Renewables Europe Fund, awarded the title of Best Infrastructure Fund, aims to achieve "a radical transformation of [the] existing energy system by replacing fossil-based energy generation with renewable energy and a huge improvement in energy efficiency."

The Triodos Microfinance Fund, which was named Best Impact Fund, invests in financial institutions in developing countries and emerging economies with the aim of bringing finance to underserved client groups, in particular those on low incomes and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The award for Best Private Equity ESG Fund went to the Triodos Organic Growth Fund, which aims to accelerate the transition to 'ecologically and socially resilient food and agriculture systems'. This means "systems that work with, instead of against, nature, and that protect soil fertility and biodiversity," said Jurriën Appers, manager of Triodos Organic Growth Fund.