Fund Name | SRI Style | Product | Region | Asset Type | Launch Date | |
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Pacific Assets Trust (Stewart Investors) |
Sustainability Select | Investment Trust | Asia Pacific | Equity | 01/01/1985 | |
Fund Size: £453.59m Total screened & themed / SRI assets: £14550.00 Total Responsible Ownership assets: £14550.00 Total assets under management: £14550.00 As at: 31/03/23 |
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OverviewAwaiting update from fund manager - fund last updated April 2022
The Fund aims to achieve absolute returns over the long-term by making investments into high-quality companies that contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable development. The team achieves positive social and environmental outcomes by avoiding companies that participate in harmful and controversial practices and investing in, and engaging with, companies that directly or indirectly support positive social and environmental outcomes such as health and wellbeing, financial inclusion, waste, water and energy efficiency and renewable energy. Engagement and voting are used as tools to improve the underlying companies’ approaches to social and environmental issues. The team uses Project Drawdown to map the portfolio to climate change and biodiversity solutions and Human Development Pillars to map to social factors like health and wellbeing, financial inclusion and water and sanitation. All holdings are also mapped to the Sustainable Development Goals.
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FiltersFund informationSustainabilityEnvironmental policy Sustainability policy Limits exposure to carbon intensive industries Resource efficiency policy or theme Sustainable transport policy or theme Sustainability theme or focus Environmental damage and pollution policy Favours cleaner, greener companies Waste management policy or theme UN Global Compact linked exclusion policy Sustainability focus Encourage more sustainable practices through stewardship Nature & BiodiversityDeforestation / palm oil policy Plastics policy / reviewing plastics Unsustainable / illegal deforestation exclusion policy Climate Change & EnergyNuclear exclusion policy Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded Climate change / greenhouse gas emissions policy Invests in clean energy / renewables Fracking and tar sands excluded Clean / renewable energy theme or focus Arctic drilling exclusion Fossil fuel reserves exclusion Energy efficiency theme Paris aligned fund strategy Encourage transition to low carbon through stewardship activity Targeted Positive InvestmentsInvests >25% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies Human RightsHuman rights policy Child labour exclusion Responsible supply chain policy or theme Oppressive regimes (not free or democratic) exclusion policy Social / EmploymentSocial policy Health & wellbeing policies or theme Diversity, equality & inclusion Policy (fund level) Labour standards policy Favours companies with strong social policies Meeting Peoples' Basic NeedsWater / sanitation policy or theme Demographic / ageing population theme Ethical Values Led ExclusionsEthical policies Animal welfare policy Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded Armaments manufacturers avoided Alcohol production excluded Gambling avoidance policy Pornography avoidance policy Gilts / government bonds - exclude all Gilts / government bonds - exclude some Animal testing - excluded except if for medical purposes Civilian firearms production exclusion Banking & FinancialsPredatory lending exclusion Governance & ManagementGovernance policy Anti-bribery and corruption policy Avoids companies with poor governance Encourage board diversity e.g. gender UN sanctions exclusion Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity Fund GovernanceESG integration strategy Asset Size & MetricsOver 50% large cap companies Invests in small, mid and large cap companies How The Fund WorksBalances company 'pros and cons' / best in sector Positive selection bias Norms focus Combines norms based exclusions with other SRI criteria Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria Focus on ESG risk mitigation Significant harm exclusion SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website Assets mapped to SDGs Impact MethodologiesAims to generate positive impacts (or 'outcomes') Measures positive impacts Positive environmental impact theme Positive social impact theme Invests in environmental solutions companies Invests in social solutions companies Invests in sustainability / ESG disruptors Labels & AccreditationsEurosif Transparency Intended Clients & Product OptionsFaith friendly Intended for investors interested in sustainability Intended for clients who want to have a positive impact Available via an ISA (OEIC only) Fund management company informationAbout The BusinessESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide) Responsible ownership / stewardship policy or strategy (AFM company wide) Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide) Responsible ownership / ESG a key differentiator (AFM company wide) Diversity, equality & inclusion engagement policy (AFM company wide) Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide) Specialist positive impact fund management company Boutique / specialist fund management company Integrates ESG factors into all / most fund research SDG aligned aims / objectives (AFM company wide) In-house diversity improvement programme (AFM company wide) ResourcesIn-house responsible ownership / voting expertise Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies ESG specialists on all investment desks (AFM company wide) Collaborations & AffiliationsPRI signatory UKSIF member Fund EcoMarket partner UN Net Zero Asset Owners / Managers Alliance member AccreditationsUK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide) PRI A+ rated (AFM company wide) Engagement ApproachRegularly lead collaborative ESG initiatives (AFM company wide) Encourage responsible corporate taxation (AFM company wide) Company Wide ExclusionsReview(ing)carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds (AFM company wide) Controversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide) Tobacco avoidance policy (AFM company wide) Fossil fuel exclusion policy (AFM company wide) Climate & Net Zero TransitionEncourage carbon / greenhouse gas reduction (AFM company wide) Working towards a ‘Net Zero’ commitment (AFM company wide) In-house carbon / GHG reduction policy (AFM company wide) TransparencyPublish full voting record (AFM company wide) Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide) Full SRI policy information on company website Full SRI policy information available on request |
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PolicyThe Sustainable Funds Group (SFG) only invests in high-quality companies that are well positioned to both contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable development. This means that companies with material exposure to harmful or controversial products and services are naturally avoided. Investing in companies that fail to discharge their environmental stewardship and human rights responsibilities is also inconsistent with SFG’s investment philosophy. All harmful business activities are defined and publicly disclosed on SFG’s website. We have established a materiality threshold for harmful or controversial activities at 5% of revenues – 0% threshold for manufacture of tobacco products and controversial weapons. In exceptional circumstances, SFG may invest in companies where the exposure is above the 5% threshold. In these cases there will be full disclosure on the rationale for investment. The reasons might include indirect involvement, for example, providing safety products to the fossil fuel or defence industry. Exceptions may also relate to legacy activities which are being wound down. In these cases the analysts will engage with the company and encourage them to exit those activities. There is also a group-wide policy prohibiting investments that do not adhere to international conventions, including cluster munitions, land mine manufacturers, sanctioned and high-risk countries and tobacco manufacturers. SFG screens the portfolios quarterly using Sustainalytics to ensure that each company held continues to meet the global norms for best business practices and is not breaching the list of harmful or controversial products and services. Checks are also completed pre and post-trade using the order management system, these include breaches of the UN Human Rights Norms for Businesses and the UN Global Compact Principles. The team receives controversy reporting from RepRisk on all shortlisted and held companies. Where issues are flagged by these services, the analysts will investigate the controversy and, if genuine, will engage with the company to improve practices. If the engagement is unsuccessful the team will divest. SFG aims to create positive environmental and social outcomes across a broad range of factors by avoiding companies that are directly involved in harmful and controversial products and services and investing in companies that contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable development. Companies are selected from the bottom-up and have exposure to a broad range of themes including climate action, renewable energy, energy, waste and water efficiency, health and wellbeing, financial inclusion, education and employment, fair wages, sanitation, diversity, equity and inclusion. Stewardship, engagement and voting, is also used to improve outcomes. Recent engagement topics have included climate change, remuneration, gender diversity, sustainability of soy and palm oil, lead and VOC levels in paint, living wage, recycling and packaging, plastic pellets and deforestation.
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ProcessSustainability is core to our investment philosophy and integrated into our investment process. We do not have a separate team that looks at sustainability – every investment analyst in the team analyses the sustainability positioning of a business, and is also responsible for engagement and proxy voting. We only invest in high-quality companies that contribute to, and benefit from, sustainable development. We define development as sustainable if it furthers human development and has an ecological footprint that respects planetary boundaries. All members of the investment team sign our Hippocratic Oath, pledging to uphold the principles of stewardship. We approach sustainability as a means to mitigate risks and as a driver of investment returns. Integrating sustainability into our analysis is a natural extension of having a long-term investment horizon; the sustainability headwinds and tailwinds that affect companies are different to the Our consideration of sustainability is holistic; it includes ESG but is more than ESG. We consider financial sustainability – conservatism around the balance sheet, for example – and stewardship by management – the treatment of all stakeholders through a crisis, for example – to be as essential to the sustainability positioning of a company as the product or service the company sells. When assessing a company’s sustainability we ask ourselves the following questions:
Do the products and services make a valuable contribution to sustainable development?
Is the company trying to reduce negative impacts in its operations?
Do the culture and values embody sustainability and continuous improvement?
Can the company benefit from sustainability tailwinds and headwinds? We avoid companies that have unsustainable business models and we engage with companies to improve sustainability outcomes. This leads us to seek out companies with exceptional cultures, run by responsible stewards, where the products, services and operations help reduce ecological footprints or solve environmental problems, or advance human development, or both, wherever possible. We have established a materiality threshold for harmful or controversial activities at 5% of revenues – 0% for tobacco production and controversial weapons. Within the Sustainable Funds Group, we explicitly seek to invest in companies that are making a positive contribution to society. You can read our position statement on our website. We supplement our internal research around sustainability using third party data-provider, Sustainalytics. At the end of each quarter, portfolios are checked to ensure companies meet global norms for best practices and against our thresholds for harmful activities. We also receive controversy reporting from RepRisk.
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Resources, Affiliations & Corporate StrategiesThe investment analysts are responsible for all company analysis including ESG, identifying engagement priorities, monitoring and engaging our investments and for making all voting decisions. There is no specific dedicated resource purely for ESG/RI considerations. We carry out the majority of research ourselves. Specialist third-party research is commissioned to deepen and broaden the team's understanding of complex sustainability issues. Stewart Investors is involved with the following initiatives:
More widely, at a First Sentier Investors Group level, we support a number of industry and trade groups that are focused on developing and improving Responsible Investment. These include:
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DialshifterThis fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by…
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by… engaging with our investee companies on their net zero targets and action plans. Creating transparent climate change reporting and sharing our learning with clients, prospects and the industry. |
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Literature
Last amended: 08/01/24 09:04 |
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05/06/2024