CT (Lux) SDG Engagement Global Equity Fund (CT) (was BMO)

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

Investment Philosophy

Our philosophy for the CT SDG Engagement Global Equity Strategy is to precipitate positive impact through targeted, impact-focused, active engagement with companies using the United Nation’s SDG framework.

It is estimated that between $5 and 7 trillion will be needed each year to meet the UN SDGs; however, the current funding gap sits at $2.5 trillion. We believe listed equities play a key role in plugging this gap, as they provide the scale and reach that has so far escaped traditional impact asset classes. We believe in harnessing the power of capital and active ownership to target the SDGs, deliver real world impact, and progress towards a more sustainable future, whilst unlocking market opportunities and delivering attractive financial returns.

The objective of the Strategy is to invest in a portfolio of global SMID cap companies (mainly between US$1bn and US$35bn market cap), for which we can define clear and targeted SDG engagement agendas. We aim to deliver long-term capital growth and outperformance of the MSCI ACWI SMID Cap Index over rolling 3-year periods.

We use our fundamental, bottom-up investment process to create a global SMID Cap strategy that is capable of delivering attractive risk-adjusted alpha, in addition to meeting SDG criteria. We are able to invest in any company as long as there is potential to engage materially on at least one of the 17 SDGs.

The SDGs provide a useful framework for monitoring and measuring company progress. We have a vast database of all our engagement with companies – we track every call, meeting and email on our online database as well as company responsiveness, progress and outcomes (we call them milestones – of which we had 388 in 2021 at firm level). Our Responsible Investment team has conducted in depth analysis on the SDGs and their targets and have shortlisted around 80 out of the 169 targets where we believe our engagement can make the most material impact to companies. The CT SDG Engagement Global Equity Strategy plays to the RI team’s expertise and strengths in company engagement and reporting.

We have been a leader in the development of sustainable investment strategies for over three decades; responsible investment is central to our corporate identity and integral to our global investment philosophy. We have been mapping some of our Responsible range of funds against the SDGs since 2016.

Quality matters

• Alongside factors like ‘competitive advantage’ we look for companies that effectively manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues

Price matters 

• We have a disciplined approach to valuation with a view to investing in companies

 Well managed

• Companies should be run by proven management teams, who are open to shareholder engagement

 Scope to drive improvement

• Only companies where we see scope for achieving improvement towards SDG targets warrant a place in the portfolio
• How well a company manages its ESG responsibilities is an indicator of management quality, long-term strategic thinking and the resilience of a business. Companies that perform well on these metrics should create more sustainable shareholder value over time. We try to seek these sustainability leaders or potential leaders.
• We favour companies with proven business models, delivering consistent returns and stable cash flow and where management have proven themselves to be responsible allocators of capital with high standards of corporate social responsibility.
• We apply a rigorous valuation process to determine attractive entry points for long-term positions. We use cash-based valuation metrics to determine a margin of safety, based on a combination of the current share price and expected future cash generation factored into that price.
• We explicitly focus our investment horizon on the long term, allowing time for both investment theses to materialise and any engagement to yield results.
• Post investment we endeavour to develop relationships with the company management and board to engage in a constructive ongoing dialogue on all elements of business strategy including key environmental, social and governance issues. That is why we are long term holders of the companies we invest in. We believe we have a responsibility as shareholders to exercise the rights and responsibilities of ownership, and that through engagement and active voting we can encourage companies towards meeting or setting best practice in the management of ESG issues. This should ultimately support long-term performance, reduce risk and contribute to promoting a fairer and more sustainable world.

Process:

Investment Process

There is a five-step investment process led by the Global Equities team, with ESG and SDG consideration embedded throughout.

• Idea generation
• SDG analysis and Impact assessment
• Company analysis
• Portfolio construction
• Active ownership and Impact measurement

Step 1: Idea generation (Global Equities team)

We find many strong ideas are initiated from a consideration of long-term social and environmental themes which provides a long-term structural tailwind. We believe companies contributing to solutions to key sustainability challenges can deliver long term growth. The identification of themes helps to focus our analytical efforts rather than imposing a strict thematic structure on the portfolio. Additionally, we try to look for companies that have the potential to show meaningful improvement in their management of key ESG issues.

Input into idea generation comes from the experience available through other internal equity teams, gained by company meetings, participation in industry conferences, ESG research and the sector / theme research that is conducted. Research and company meetings are shared across all equity desks. External input includes sell-side research, conferences, industry experts and macro considerations. Any companies not already in the acceptable universe are then put forward to the RI team for screening against the strategy’s acceptability criteria.

Step 2: SDG analysis & Impact assessment (Global Equities team and Responsible Investment team)

Once the Global Equities team has identified a new investment opportunity, they carry out SDG analysis and impact assessment in partnership with the Responsible Investment team.

The Global Equities team and Responsible Investment team work collaboratively to assess the engage-ability of each potential portfolio holding; assessing both the potential for progressive engagement activity, and also whether those activities are in line with the SDGs and their 169 targets.

When analysing each company both ESG risks and opportunities and the potential for successful engagement (and therefore impact) are fully embedded into the fundamental research carried out of each business.

We believe that the best way to achieve our engagement goals is by constructive dialogue with key decision makers on the most relevant ESG issues to each company to drive improvement. Close collaboration between the Global Equities and Responsible Investment teams is at the heart of successful engagement. We engage on company-specific issues, sector and broader thematic issues and at public policy level. We use constructive dialogue, typically working one-to-one with companies, but taking a collaborative approach where this has more impact.

Our engagement objectives are set based on the SDG’s 169 targets. This ensures that every investee company offers defined engagement opportunities, with adequate access to leadership. The assessment below enables our agenda to drive forward improvement:

• ‘Engageability’ score
  • Assesses governance and our access to the company
• Engagement history
  • Assesses the company’s willingness to be engaged
• Engagement objectives
  • Key SDG targets selected alongside written analysis
  • Strength of SDG target links rating applied (Good-Adequate-Poor)

We have developed a robust framework which we use as a systematic, structured approach to applying our principles to impact investments. Our proposed framework is called AIMM (Additionality –Intentionality – Materiality – Measurability).

• Additionality: we assess both enterprise impact, and investor impact, aiming to disaggregate and clearly identify the type of impact. We recognise the limitations of the nature of our ownership, yet believe that as long-term active investors, we will drive additionality through our engagement activities. This can only be done however if investee companies are engageable and open to change, which is why engageability comes as a prerequisite for investing, as outlined above.
• Intentionality: in addition to the over-arching intentionality behind the investment in question, we look for companies that are engageable and open to change.
• Materiality: we seek to assess the scale of the impact that companies can make. We make a clear distinction on whether the real-world impact is driven by companies’ products/services or whether it is driven by their footprint (i.e. conduct). We believe both fall within the scope of impact investing; but the distinction is necessary to evidence and assess the scale of impact.
• Measurability: assessing, measuring and tracking outcomes that are meaningful and contribute to making a real-world impact. We endeavour to report total impact – both positive and negative.

Our framework is underpinned by our Positive Impact Principle which underlies our twin ambition to deliver attractive investment performance and positive non-financial outcomes.

Step 3: Company analysis (Global Equities and Responsible Investment teams)

While we are happy to use sell-side analysis or analysts to identify potential new ideas, we do not use their recommendations to drive our decision making nor do we rely on their research in isolation. We produce our own detailed research notes ahead of an investment to fully understand a business, the quality of its management team, its ‘economic moat’, how it operates and generates cash flows, returns and more importantly, the risks to the durability of these returns. The key feature of our research is that it is independent, detailed and relevant.

Our proprietary research tools simplify this process and provide a common platform on which to judge very different businesses. The stock template gives a snapshot of the operating metrics of a business, the consensus forecasts for its evolution over the next few years and multiple valuation methodologies. This enables analysts to form an initial view of a company very efficiently. The use of this system has been refined over a number of years having used it to carefully analyse hundreds of companies. The result is a system that ensures a consistency of approach and enables us to be as objective as possible in our analysis. It also means that the workings behind the analysis are transparent and open to be challenged by any other members of the Global Equities team.

Objectivity is achieved in two principal ways.

• A dispassionate analysis of cash flows will always be a focus for investment analysis and should provide an unimpeachable assessment of the financial quality of a potential investment.
• Secondly, for a more qualitative approach, we use input from industry experts who we contact through our service providers. These experts have the benefit of being independent from the financial community so can help provide an unbiased view of a company which is not always the case with the analyst community or indeed by the company themselves. The input from the Responsible Investment team, whether through informal conversations or periodical publications such as their ‘ESG Viewpoint’, provides an additional independent oversight and an objective assessment of the ESG credentials of the company and the industry it operates in.

The team utilises a number of tools to flesh out key ESG risks and opportunities:

• The primary source of external ESG data is MSCI ESG Research ratings and analysis. The MSCI ESG approach identifies key issues by industry for each company and rates companies on environmental, social and governance performance, both in absolute terms and relative to their specific industry. While ESG data quality has improved over time, it is still not perfect. We find the depth of the analysis often lacking, and therefore an insufficient resource on its own. Therefore, we apply the below steps:
• The RI team’s proprietary ESG score which builds on the MSCI ESG score by correcting some of the fallacies. It applies the team’s views on different industries and corrects for environmental and social issues.
• The Global Equities team’s own assessment: this is our own fundamental view on material risks and opportunities facing a company, whilst also taking into account the RI team’s analysis of ESG considerations and engagement efforts. This analysis is compiled within a “sustainability matrix”, with insights directly integrated into the fundamental analysis including valuation.

When it comes to valuation, we place particular emphasis on cash flows as we believe these provide the most rigorous base for analysis of the underlying financial strength, and therefore quality, of any company. Discounted cash flow models (DCFs) are a key component of our valuation work to determine a ‘conservative assessment of the intrinsic value’ of a share price (CAIV). DCFs are also an important tool to help us determine the margin of safety in a stock by looking at what is implied in the current share price.

Here, ESG factors are considered directly in the analysis of the business model and the assessment of management quality. We factor them into the valuation by flexing assumptions and discount rates as appropriate. For example, we may flex revenue or profitability assumptions across different outcomes reflecting ESG risks and opportunities.

The inputs into our proprietary “alternate weighted average cost of capital” (ALT-WACC) used as a discount rate within our DCF analysis also incorporate our views on ESG risks/opportunities as well as our sustainability assessment.

At the end of this process, a formal investment research note is produced by the analyst and discussed with the wider team. Stocks researched by the team are rated 1 (most positive), 2 (neutral), or 3 (most negative). The ratings are active with no neutral rating, determined by the combination of margin of safety and upside to their ‘intrinsic value’ and the level of confidence we have in the quality of the business. The forum for discussing research is our twice weekly research meetings. These are rigorous and thorough meetings during which an analyst will present their research on a stock which must stand up to detailed scrutiny by the team.

Step 4: Portfolio construction (Global Equities team)

The output of the company analysis forms the basis of portfolio construction.

We aim to build a portfolio that drives alignment with the SDGs by using the power and impact of active investor engagement.

Every investee company in our Strategy has to have passed through our detailed assessment of the company’s engage-ability, as outlined in step 2. We need to have identified specific SDG targets within scope for engagement. Only when these requirements have been met, would the company be taken forward to the portfolio construction stage. We have a portfolio construction group, which includes Portfolio Managers, Analysts and members of our Responsible Investment team, to ensure that all of these aspects are taken into account for this strategy.

We consider that higher quality companies justify a larger active position in the portfolio. Timing, regional, sector and aggregate risk considerations are taken into account. Informal desk discussion of ideas exchange and news flow monitoring is supplemented by a more formal Stock Review Meeting and Portfolio Construction Meeting, ensuring that monitoring and review at the team level takes place.

The Strategy observes the following self-imposed limits:

• Stock constraints: We aim to typically hold between 40-60 stocks in the portfolio. In general, we expect position sizes will be in the 1%-5% range.
• Country/Sector/Industry constraints: We do not impose any formal limits; however, diversification is considered as part of the portfolio construction process. In terms of geographical exposure, we typically limit our regional position to +/-10 percentage points relative to benchmark to ensure the majority of risk in the portfolio will remain stock specific.

The risk profile of the overall portfolio is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure:

• Stock specific risk comprises the main element of the risk budget.
• The main stock contributors to tracking error are consistent with the intended shape of the portfolio.
• The risk contribution from countries and sectors are consistent with the intended shape of the portfolio.
• The risk budget is appropriately spread across the main positions.
• Tracking errors are consistent with the portfolio objectives.
• Positions by country, sector and stock are within mandate restrictions.

Individual weightings are initially determined by the strength of conviction of each idea on a risk adjusted return basis, taking into account the quality of the investment thesis.

Sell discipline

Our sell discipline is not rules-based but a sale would likely be triggered by a fundamental breach of the investment case or a stock becoming fully valued with no further upside foreseen over the medium-term. Furthermore, where a company has resisted engagement for two years and/or where engagement has not led to any momentum towards tangible positive change, the Global Equities team and Responsible Investment team would consider divesting.

Step 5: Active ownership and impact measurement (Global Equities and Responsible Investment teams) Engagement is structured around the SDGs and their underlying targets. To engage effectively we strive to understand the company’s corporate strategy, culture and the materiality of ESG factors.

We believe that the best way to achieve our engagement goals is by constructive dialogue with key decision makers on the most relevant ESG issues to each company to drive improvement. Close collaboration between the Global Equities and Responsible Investment teams is at the heart of successful engagement. We engage on company-specific issues, sector and broader thematic issues and at public policy level. We use constructive dialogue, typically working one-to-one with companies, but taking a collaborative approach where this has more impact.

We have also developed an online engagement database for over 12,500 companies, allowing us to log interactions, progress and results, which we can do at an SDG target level. The output of the team’s bottom-up fundamental analysis forms the basis of portfolio construction. We consider that higher quality companies justify a larger active position on the portfolio. As referenced earlier, the Strategy leverages resources and expertise from across the Firm’s investment teams as appropriate.

We operate an active ownership policy and seek to influence positive change and support best practice through engagement and voting. Our annual engagement planning process is increasingly driven with consideration for the SDGs. 2016 was the first year in which we conducted engagement with the SDGs in mind.

In 2021 the Responsible Investment team had 1,773 engagements with 940 companies, including 580 meetings in person or via teleconference, over half of which were at senior executive or board level. Most were one-to-one interactions, with the remainder being through collaborative initiatives where we judged this to be the most effective way to achieve our objectives. We achieved 388 milestones (instances of change) for our clients.

We monitor the engagement progress and involvement in controversies and breaches of international norms on a quarterly basis. There will also be an on-going periodic assessment of whether engagement:

• Is progressing sufficiently;
• Has achieved its aim;
• Is requiring escalation; or
• Has failed.

We report to clients on engagement activity and progress at least on a quarterly basis, or more regularly where there are significant developments. We also provide an in-depth engagement report on an annual basis (including in-person meeting to discuss findings)

We engage deeply, having identified 80 SDG targets to focus on, and talk directly with key decision makers. Our ambition is not only to deliver attractive investment returns but to clearly demonstrate positive progress towards achieving SDG targets. We do this by establishing, where possible, key KPIs that we can measure, track and report upon.

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:

Responsible Investment Team

We have a dedicated in-house Responsible Investment (RI) team, one of the most experienced and established teams of its kind. The award-winning 40+ member team supports our clients, our investment teams and our overall business through expertise across ESG thematic research, ESG integration, ESG policy, client reporting and thought leadership content. Beyond these core activities, the team also supports a plethora of activity from representation on responsible investment industry groups, public policy contribution, ESG thought leadership, ESG product development, portfolio level ESG analytics, screening for specialist ESG portfolios and reporting on active ownership activities. Active ownership is a key aspect of our RI work, and within the team there are more than 20 professionals focused on engagement and voting activity.

The RI team works hand in hand with our research and investment professionals to enrich their understanding of key sustainability trends as they relate to specific sectors and issuers, collaborating to highlight risks and opportunities within industries and sectors, informing investment decisions across asset classes.

The RI team was awarded ‘Best ESG Research Team’ at the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Investment Week Sustainable & ESG Investment Awards, ‘Best ESG Reporting – Asset Manager: Large’ at the 2019 Environmental Finance Awards, and ‘Best ESG Research: Fixed Income’ at the 2020 Environmental Finance Awards. We were also awarded ‘Best ESG Fund House’ at the 2022 ESG Clarity Awards.

Responsible Investment Advisory Council

The Council is a six-member committee of experts, who are leaders in their fields and bring international experience across responsible investment, ethical, environmental, and social issues. Their primary role is to provide advice on the ethical criteria for our specialist Responsible strategy range. The Responsible Investment team is also able to draw on their expertise in informing our broader engagement and responsible investment approach.

The Council’s president is the Most Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Chair, who heads the quarterly meetings, is Howard Pearce, formerly Head of Environmental Finance and Pension Fund Management at the UK’s Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF).  More detail on the Council can be found here.

Affiliations & Memberships

We make efforts to promote responsible investment in multiple ways, including participation in speaking engagements, industry working groups, responsible investment conferences and collaborative initiatives.

A list of key responsible investment memberships and affiliations for Columbia Threadneedle Investments is shown below.

• Environmental

Climate Action 100+

Climate Action 100+ is an investor initiative launched in 2017 to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. We are a member of the investor coalition, leading 8 and supporting 38 engagements.

Date of joining: CTML: 2017, TAML: 2021

Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI)

A PRI sponsored initiative; this is an asset-owner led initiative which assesses companies' preparedness for the transition to a low carbon economy. It is supported by London School of Economics, a research driven initiative on high emitting sectors carbon transition and strategic/management commitment to address climate transition.

Date of joining: CTML: 2020, TAML: 2021

Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative

Founder signatory of this international group of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius; and to supporting investing aligned with net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.

Date of joining: CTML: 2020, TAML: 2021

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

Non-profit organisation that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. We are member of the investor coalition, leading and supporting several engagements.

Date of joining: CTML: 2000, TAML: 2005

Carbon Trust

We partner this organisation that supports companies to accelerate towards Net Zero. From target setting, Net Zero pathways, assurance and footprinting, to policy advice, strategy setting and programme delivery.

Date of joining: 2010

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

We have committed to producing reporting as part of TCFD, an organisation that was established in December 2015 with the goal of developing a set of voluntary climate-related financial risk disclosures.

Date of joining: CTML: 2020, TAML: 2022

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

ESG standard setter (Member Standards Advisory Group & sub-groups). SASB guides the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors.

Date of joining: 2018

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

The SBTi is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). Guides companies to set science-based targets to mobilize the private sector to take urgent climate action.

Date of joining: 2020

Impact Investing Institute

Focuses on the development of outcome related investment, to encourage more investment made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. TAML is a Founding supporter and member of the Advisory Council and working group for the Green+ Gilts

Date of joining: 2020

Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)

IIGCC works with business, policy makers and investors to help define the investment practices, policies and corporate behaviours required to address climate change. A member of the RI team serves on the Board. We lead and support several engagements.

Date of joining: 2001

IIGCC's Global Investor Statement

A joint statement coordinated by the seven Founding Partners of The Investor Agenda to all world governments urging a global race-to-the-top on climate policy and warns that laggards will miss out on trillions of dollars in investment if they aim too low and move too slow.

Date of joining: 2009

IIGCC’s Investor Position Statement on Transition Planning

Signatory of this investor statement by 56 leading investors calling for the implementation of new corporate governance measures to ensure shareholders can hold companies to account in achieving net zero emissions commitments.

Date of joining: 2021

Ceres Land Use and Climate WG (Biodiversity)

Ceres works with the most influential capital market leaders to advance innovative solutions to the climate crisis and achieve a zero emissions future where people and the planet can prosper.

Date of joining: 2020

Cerrado Manifesto SoS

Public statement committing to halt deforestation in the Cerrado, adopt sustainable land management practices and mitigate financial risks associated with deforestation and climate change. It is endorsed by global FMCG companies and institutional investors.

Date of joining: 2021

ChemScore

Benchmark created by NGO International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec). It ranks the world’s top 50 chemical producers on their work to reduce their chemical footprint.

Date of joining: 2021

Nature Action 100

Founding member of investor-led collaborative engagement programme to engage with companies and policymakers on nature.

Date of joining: 2022

Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures

As a forum member, we support the taskforce aiming to develop and deliver a risk management and disclosure framework for organisations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks.

Date of joining: 2020

Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT)

SPOTT scores palm oil, tropical forestry, and natural rubber companies annually against over 100 sector specific ESG indicators to benchmark their progress over time. As an investor supporter we express need for enhanced transparency.

Date of joining: 2019

Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation

Collaborative investor initiative set up to engage with public agencies and industry associations on the issue of deforestation. The goal is to coordinate a public policy dialogue on halting deforestation. We are a member of the Advisory Council, leading/supporting engagements going forward.

Date of joining: 2021

ShareAction Chemicals Working Group

Investor group focused on engagement with the chemicals sector on decarbonisation.

Date of joining: 2021

• Social

Global Network Initiative (GNI)

Member of this initiative seeking to safeguard freedom of expression and personal privacy against government restrictions. The protections are facilitated by a coalition of companies, investors, civil society organisations, academics, and other stakeholders.

Date of joining: CTML: 2008, TAML: 2002

Interfaith Centre on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)

Coalition of over 300 global faith- and values-based institutional investors. We are members of the Food Justice and Racial Equity workstream.

Date of joining: 2020

ICCR's Investor Alliance on Human Rights (IAHR)

Part of the ICCR, IAHR provides a collective action platform to facilitate investor advocacy on a full spectrum of human rights and labour rights issues.

Date of joining: 2020

ICCR's Investors for Opioid and Pharmaceutical Accountability (IOPA) Part of the ICCR, IOPA addresses the fallout of the opioid crisis and other business risks by seeking accountability and mitigating further risk at pharmaceutical companies through comprehensive shareholder reforms.

Date of joining: 2021

ShareAction Good Work Coalition

Investor engagement initiative aimed at driving up standards in the workplace. Engagement focus on labour standards, living wage standards, accreditation, transparency of the FTSE350, extension to DEI with a focus on ethnic diversity.

Date of joining: 2021

ShareAction Healthier Markets Investor initiative aimed at improving children's health by increasing access to affordable, healthy food.

Date of joining: 2021

Access to Medicine Foundation

Member of the investor coalition, leading and supporting several engagements. Independent, non-profit organisation working to stimulate and guide the pharmaceutical industry. Produces the Access to Medicine Index, Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark, Access to Vaccines Index.

Date of joining: 2021

Investor Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

A coalition between the Access to Medicine Foundation, the FAIRR Initiative, the Principles for Responsible Investment and the UK Government Department of Health and Social Care to galvanise investor efforts to address global AMR. We are leading and supporting engagements.

Date of joining: 2021

Investor Initiative for Responsible Care

Collaborative engagement group coordinated by UNI Global Union focused on working standards and quality of care in the listed nursing care sector.

Date of joining: 2022

Workforce Disclosure Initiative (WDI)

Disclosure body. We are Signatory, member of the Advisory Group; leading/supporting several engagements. Investor initiative aimed at improving corporate transparency and accountability on workforce issues. Provide companies and investors with comprehensive and comparable data.

Date of joining: CTML: 2021, TAML: 2020

Global Investor Collaboration on Farm Animal Welfare & Global Investor Statement on Farm Animal Welfare

Engagement collaboration with BBFAW (Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare), member of the investor coalition, supporting and leading several engagements.

Date of joining: 2021

Platform Living wage Financials

Coalition of financial institutions that encourages and monitors investee companies to address the non-payment of living wage in global supply chains. We are chair of the Platform's Garment Working Group; member of the Food, Retail and Agri working group.

Date of joining: 2020

Find it, fix it, prevent it

Engagement collaboration. Member, leading on engagements. Investor led initiative targeting UK-listed companies to demonstrate commitment to eradicating modern slavery from their supply chains.

Date of joining: CTML: 2020, TAML: 2021

KnowTheChain

Engagement collaboration. Member of the investor coalition, supporting several engagements. KnowTheChain is a resource for companies and investors to understand and address forced labour risks within their global supply chains.

Date of joining: 2021

Access to Nutrition Index

Engagement collaboration. Member of the investor coalition, supporting several engagements. Independent, non-profit organisation producing the Access to Nutrition Index. Benchmark evaluates the world's largest food and beverage manufacturers' policies and performance related to the world's most pressing nutrition challenges: obesity and undernutrition.

Date of joining: 2021

Human Capital Management Coalition (US)

Engagement collaboration. Member of the coalition of investors to elevate human capital management. Engages companies and other market participants with the aim of understanding and improving how human capital management contributes to the creation of long-term shareholder value.

Date of joining: 2021

Investors for Racial Justice

Member of this information sharing network and engagement collaboration.

Date of joining: 2020

Votes Against Slavery 2022

Member of this investor collaboration engaging with FTSE 350 companies on their compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We joined the collaboration for the 2021 campaign.

Date of joining: 2021

• Governance

International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)

Member of investor led organisation advancing the highest standards of corporate governance and investor stewardship worldwide in pursuit of long-term value creation.

Date of joining: CTML: 2007, TAML: 2017

Investment Association (IA)

Member of UK industry body; facilitates the monitoring and responding to ESG policy and regulatory changes impacting our activities.

Date of joining: CTML: 2000, TAML: 1998

Corporate Governance Forum

European focus - UK based asset management governance teams. Informal discussion on companies and industry issues.

Date of joining: 2012

Global Institutional Governance Network (GIGN)

US/Global focus - Global asset management governance teams. Discussions on companies and industry issues.

Date of joining: 2012

Council of Institutional Investors (CII)

Member of this non-profit organisation promoting effective corporate governance policies.

Date of joining: 1996

Investor Forum

Member and proactive collaborator with the Forum, which helps investors to work collectively to escalate material issues with the Boards of UK-listed companies.

Date of joining: 2005

Asia Corporate Governance Association

Member of independent, non-profit membership organisation dedicated to working with investors, companies and regulators in the implementation of effective corporate governance practices throughout Asia.

Date of joining: CTML: 2004, TAML: 2010

Asia Research & Engagement (ARE)

Engagement collaboration. Organisation that structures, implements and assembles investor collaborative engagement programmes across Asia. Performs in-depth industry and company research that provides strategic insight into key ESG issues to underpin engagement work.

Date of joining: 2021

Pre-Emption Group (PEG)

Members of the UK Capital markets group that sets guidelines on the application/dis-application of pre-emption rights in UK capital issuance.

Date of joining: 2016

30% Club UK Investor Group

Campaign for greater representation of women on company boards. Member of the investor coalition, leading and supporting several engagements.

Date of joining: 2021

30% Club France Investor Group

Member of this investor-led group aiming to boost the number of women in board seats and executive leadership of companies in the SBF 120 index.

Date of joining: 2021

30% Coalition (US)

Campaign for greater diversity on company boards. Member of the investor coalition, leading and supporting several engagements.

Date of joining: 2021

Women in Finance Charter

First asset manager signatory to the UK charter committing to support the progression of women into senior roles in the financial services sector, set targets and publicly report on progress against these targets to support transparency and accountability.

Date of joining: 2016

Eumedion

Member of this non-profit organisation aiming to promote good corporate governance and sustainability policies at Dutch listed companies and to promote engaged and responsible shareholding by its members.

Date of joining: 2009

• Environmental, Social & Governance

Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

Global responsible investment association, membership is a pre-requisite for many clients. TAML & BMO GAM are Founding Signatories to the UN supported PRI. CTML, formerly known as BMO GAM EMEA, was part of BMO GAM at the time of becoming a signatory. BMO GAM EMEA business was acquired by Ameriprise Financial, Inc. in 2021. CMIA became a signatory in 2014.

Date of joining: CTML & TAML: 2006, CMIA: 2014

UK Stewardship Code

Set of principles for asset owners and managers. We are signatories of the 2020 code.

Date of joining: 2012

Investor Stewardship Group (ISG)

Members of the network of investors and asset managers formed to promote good practice in stewardship and corporate governance, specific to the US.

Date of joining: 2018

Investment Company Institute (ICI)

US Industry body; facilitates the monitoring and responding to ESG policy and regulatory changes impacting our activities.

Date of joining: 2019

UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF)

Network focused on the UK sustainable investment market, pre-requisite for FNG certification. A member of the RI team chairs the Policy Committee.

Date of joining: CTML: 2000, TAML: 2020

Taiwan Stewardship Code

Signatory to the Taiwan Stewardship Code, which is based on a ‘comply or explain’ approach.

Date of joining: 2022

Japan’s Stewardship Code

Signatory to Japan’s Stewardship Code, which is maintained by Japanese Financial Services Agency, based on a ‘comply-or-explain’ approach where signatories comply with the principles of the code or explain why they do not comply.

Date of joining: 2022

Global Real Estate Benchmark (GRESB)

Member of this organization whose data facilitates our ability to track trends in corporate environmental and social risk management performance as it relates to property.

Date of joining: 2013

London Stock Exchange

Members of the LSE’s Primary Markets Group, advising on primary market issues.

Date of joining: 2012

The Big Exchange

TAML is a founding partner and members of the Impact Committee.

Date of joining: 2019

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) Member of this leading non-profit dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing

Date of joining: 2020

FAIRR Collaborative investor network that focuses on ESG risks and opportunities around animal agriculture.

Date of joining: 2021

Investor Tailings Safety Initiative & Investor 2030 Mining Agenda We are the founding supporter of this initiative and will co-lead on some of the corporate engagements.

Date of joining: 2021

Centre for Audit Committee and Investor Dialogue Network initiative that enables investors, audit committee members and auditors to discuss issues of common interest.

Date of joining: 2013

International Capital Markets Association (ICMA)

The development of green, social and sustainability bond principles relevant to our fixed income investments in an RI context. Members of the Social Bond Working Group and members of working groups on the SDGs and on impact reporting.

Date of joining: 2016

Source: Columbia Threadneedle Investments, as at March 2023. Includes memberships held by CMIA, TAML, CTML and other group affiliates. CMIA = Columbia Management Investment Advisors, LLC; TAML = Threadneedle Asset Management Limited; CTML = Columbia Threadneedle Management Limited.

Dialshifter

This fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by…

Our responsible / sustainable investment philosophy is based on three pillars:

• Avoid: Avoid companies with damaging or unsustainable business practices
• Invest: Invest in companies that make a positive contribution to society and/or the environment
• Improve: Use influence as an investor to encourage best practice management of ESG issues through engagement and voting

This philosophy underlies the process that is applied to define the investable universe through screening, the subsequent investment analysis, stock selection and active ownership.

Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by…

Our methodology to implement our net zero commitment for equities and corporate debt is based on the Net Zero Investment Framework, developed by the Paris Aligned Investment Initiative. Our approach to net zero is focused on real world decarbonisation, using stewardship to help drive improvements in companies’ practices and alignment to a net zero trajectory. More details on our methodology can be found here: Net zero investing: Columbia Threadneedle Investments Approach

At the enterprise level, we continue to evolve our climate change strategy and reporting, and in 2022 produced our first full carbon footprint assessment of Ameriprise Financial, Inc.

SDR Labelling:

Not eligible to use label (out of scope)