Fund Name | SRI Style | Product | Region | Asset Type | Launch Date | |
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Ninety One Global Environment Fund | Environmental Style | OEIC | Global | Equity | 02/12/2019 | |
Fund Size: £3605.00m Total screened & themed / SRI assets: £5326.00 Total Responsible Ownership assets: £115962.00 Total assets under management: £126026.00 As at: 31/03/24 |
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OverviewThe Ninety One Global Environment Strategy is a global equity portfolio that allocates to companies that we believe will enable the process of sustainable decarbonisation while generating a positive impact through the concept of “carbon avoided”. It employs a bespoke bottom-up investment process designed specifically for this diverse universe of global equities. The process incorporates proprietary models, such as our environmental/carbon avoided screen and our detailed company-level fundamental financial and risk modelling. We provide transparency on positions and company engagement through our annual Impact Report. This process reflects our core beliefs of sustainable long-term investing and active engagement. We believe in sustainability with substance. We see the shift towards sustainability as offering a once-in-a-generation opportunity and a fundamental reappraisal of value creation. |
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FiltersFund informationSustainability - GeneralSustainability theme or focus Encourage more sustainable practices through stewardship UN Global Compact linked exclusion policy Sustainability policy Report against sustainability objectives Environmental - GeneralWaste management policy or theme Favours cleaner, greener companies Resource efficiency policy or theme Environmental policy Limits exposure to carbon intensive industries Nature & BiodiversityBiodiversity / nature policy Climate Change & EnergyClean / renewable energy theme or focus Energy efficiency theme Fracking and tar sands excluded Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded Climate change / greenhouse gas emissions policy Encourage transition to low carbon through stewardship activity Require net zero action plan from all/most companies Invests in clean energy / renewables Fossil fuel reserves exclusion Social / EmploymentDiversity, equality & inclusion Policy (fund level) Favours companies with strong social policies Ethical Values Led ExclusionsArmaments manufacturers avoided Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded Tobacco and related products - avoid where revenue > 5% Civilian firearms production exclusion Gilts & SovereignsGilts / government bonds - exclude some Gilts / government bonds - exclude all Does not invest in sovereigns Governance & ManagementAvoids companies with poor governance Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity Encourage board diversity e.g. gender UN sanctions exclusion Fund GovernanceESG integration strategy Asset SizeInvests mostly in large cap companies / assets Over 50% large cap companies Targeted Positive InvestmentsInvests >50% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies Invests >25% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy holdings >25% of fund assets EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy holdings 5-25% of fund assets Impact MethodologiesAims to generate positive impacts (or 'outcomes') Measures positive impacts Positive environmental impact theme Described as an ‘impact investment fund’ Invests in environmental solutions companies Over 50% in assets providing environmental or social ‘solutions’ Publish ‘theory of change’ explanation How The Fund WorksPositive selection bias Limited / few ethical exclusions Focus on ESG risk mitigation Do not use stock / securities lending Unscreened Assets & CashAssets typically aligned to sustainability objectives 70 - 79% Assets typically aligned to sustainability objectives 80 – 89% Assets typically aligned to sustainability objectives > 90% Intended Clients & Product OptionsIntended for clients who want to have a positive impact Intended for investors interested in sustainability Labels & AccreditationsRSMR rated SDR Labelled Fund management company informationAbout The BusinessIntegrates ESG factors into all / most (AFM) fund research ESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide) Senior management KPIs include environmental goals (AFM company wide) Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide) Responsible ownership / stewardship policy or strategy (AFM company wide) In-house diversity improvement programme (AFM company wide) SDG aligned aims / objectives (AFM company wide) Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide) Offer structured intermediary training on sustainable investment Collaborations & AffiliationsGFANZ member (AFM company wide) PRI signatory UN Net Zero Asset Owners / Managers Alliance member Climate Action 100+ or IIGCC member (under review) Investment Association (IA) member TNFD forum member (AFM company wide) ResourcesIn-house responsible ownership / voting expertise ESG specialists on all investment desks (AFM company wide) Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers AccreditationsUK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide) PRI A+ rated (AFM company wide) Engagement ApproachEngaging on responsible supply chain issues Engaging with fossil fuel companies on climate change Engaging on biodiversity / nature issues Engaging to encourage responsible mining practices Engaging on mental health issues Engaging to reduce plastics pollution / waste Engaging on climate change issues Engaging on human rights issues Engaging to encourage a Just Transition Engaging on governance issues Engaging on diversity, equality and / or inclusion issues Engaging on labour / employment issues Regularly lead collaborative ESG initiatives (AFM company wide) Company Wide ExclusionsControversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide) Climate & Net Zero TransitionNet Zero - have set a Net Zero target date (AFM company wide) Net Zero commitment (AFM company wide) Voting policy includes net zero targets (AFM company wide) TransparencyFull SRI / responsible ownership policy information on company website Publish full voting record (AFM company wide) Just Transition policy on website (AFM company wide) Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide) Sustainability transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide) Paris Alignment plan publicly available (AFM company wide) Net Zero transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide) Dialshifter statement |
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PolicyThe flow of capital into sustainable decarbonisation represents a powerful multi-year structural growth driver. Ninety One's Global Environment Fund offers investors the opportunity to invest in a diverse portfolio of companies that stand to benefit from decarbonisation. We believe there are three compelling reasons to allocate to a portfolio of companies that will enable the process of sustainable decarbonisation:
Achieving such an allocation requires the ability to firstly rigorously screen for and accurately measure the positive carbon impact of a company, before qualitatively appraising its fundamental characteristics. We only include companies in the universe where we are confident that a company plays an important part in offering environmental products and solutions, and where revenues can be directly associated with the concept of ‘carbon avoided’.
The product employs a bespoke bottom-up investment process designed specifically for this diverse universe of global equities. The process combines proprietary models, such as our environmental/carbon avoided screen, the idea generation ranking process and our detailed company level fundamental financial and risk modelling, with our qualitative insights, judgments and analysis. We provide transparency on positions and company engagement through our annual Impact Report. This process reflects our core beliefs of sustainable long-term investing and active engagement.
We own companies that we believe will be beneficiaries of sustainable decarbonisation. This is a high conviction concentrated portfolio of best ideas managed to a long-term investment horizon. Portfolio holdings will exhibit three characteristics:
Our investment approach uses a proprietary screen to establish a universe of ~1700 companies providing environmental solutions (covering Renewable Energy, Electrification and Resource Efficiency) that are most likely to benefit from sustainable decarbonisation, incorporating Scope 1, 2 & 3 carbon emissions (risk) and carbon avoided (impact). The screen incudes:
While the focus of the Global Environment strategy is on investing in companies aligned with sustainable decarbonisation, we also focus on broader ESG issues and risks through our robust assessment of these issues in the investment process, combined with our commitment to engage proactively with all companies held in the portfolio. We assess the extent to which companies are managing their externalities (positive or negative) across key stakeholders – natural, human, and social capital. We believe the market’s myopic focus on financial data means it often overlooks these drivers of long-term shareholder value. Where any ESG issue is not considered to be best practice, this will become an engagement target for the company.
*Specifically, we use the following BICs subsectors for this exclusion: Engines & Parts Manufacturing, Exhausts & Emissions Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Diesel Locomotives Manufacturing, Oil & Gas Infrastructure Construction, Oilfield Chemicals Manufacturing, Coal Mining. We do not exclude the Utility sector given the significant potential to contribute materially to decarbonisation. |
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ProcessThe Global Environment Strategy employs a bespoke bottom-up investment process designed specifically for the relevant diverse universe of global equities. The process incorporates proprietary models, such as our environmental/carbon avoided screen and our detailed company-level fundamental financial and risk modelling, but ultimately relies on our qualitative decisions. Our process has been developed over many years of investing in global equity markets with a focus on environmental/carbon screening, fundamental growth, returns based investment analysis with a focus on sustainability and bottom-up stock selection. The process includes five clear stages:
1) Universe screen During the initial screening stage, we apply a two-part screening process: Step one – Environmental Revenues: Initially, we identify those companies that are driving this 'unprecedented shift in energy systems and transport’. It is important to think not just about the direct beneficiaries of decarbonization, but the entire related supply chain that needs to be built up. The companies which will benefit from the transition to a low carbon economy will likely sit within sectors including industrials, utilities, energy, technology, materials, chemicals and automotive sectors, which represent almost 80% of the GICS. Our investment framework, created for the transition, encapsulates that there will be winners and losers; for example, as renewable energy grows, fossil electric generation will decline, and we have consequently excluded companies which have revenues that would be significantly eroded by the transition.
Step two – Decarbonization: Once we have found companies that will enable the process of sustainable decarbonization, we need to determine which companies’ products are genuinely avoiding carbon. We do this through measuring carbon risk and carbon impact as explained below:
During this screening stage, we see:
Only companies which we believe the products and services avoid carbon and we can quantify that carbon is avoided are included in the universe. The ultimate universe consists of over 1,700 companies with a total market cap of US$14 trillion, distributed between the US, China and the rest of the world.
2) Idea generation The main source of our idea generation is a screen for companies based on key financial, sustainability and competitive advantage metrics. The metrics chosen derives from decades of investment team and firm-wide experience as well as rigorous back-testing and relevant cross-sector analysis. This screen directs our analyst research which can then lead to further qualitative idea generation. Given that the universe is rapidly-evolving in a disruptive market, we have analysed several sectors that we believe will share similar characteristics. The key attributes we highlight for relevant cross-sector comparison and analysis include:
This spans many sectors where capital intensity meets technology, with autos, IT and infrastructure/utilities the most relevant. We carried out in depth back-testing on these sectors, and our idea generation screen highlights companies who perform best on metrics most correlated with alpha generation and this is where our analysts focus their attention. We have also integrated an internal sustainability score into this part of the process. This indicator assesses companies across various sustainability and ESG factors that we’ve identified as being likely to have a financial impact on a company, with each company appraised relative to its sector. Once a company screens to be included in stage 3 (Fundamental Analysis), we perform our own sustainability analysis of the company. This is an integral part of investment process as we believe that companies with strong sustainability characteristics and who minimise their negative externalities will outperform over time.
3) Fundamental analysis Once a company comes through our idea generation screen, we move it to the next stage of the investment process where the team conducts the fundamental analysis. The first stage of our fundamental analysis process is focused on the company’s business model and whether it fits with our requirement for structural growth, sustainable returns and competitive advantage. At this stage we also carry out our own sustainability analysis by assessing the externalities generated by the company. When we are comfortable that the company fulfils our requirement and there are no material sustainability risks, we take it forward to a second, more detailed stage of fundamental analysis. We also conduct detailed fundamental analysis of sub-sectors and technologies exposed to the transition to a low carbon economy. We build sector supply and demand models (e.g., our proprietary global 2 degree model) and undertake thematic research which is presented in our thought pieces “Energy 3.0” which can be found on our website and here.. This helps us to inform and stress test our company models. The key areas of our company research are described below: Company analysis The investment team works through a rigorous checklist for each investment idea. We want to find the best companies in our universe which are intrinsically undervalued. Clean balance sheets and clear business models are a competitive advantage in many parts of this volatile sector. The team conducts fundamental analysis by constructing detailed models. Our technical understanding and experience looking at these industries, combined with access to the best and most granular data, enables us to construct detailed models that allow us to test different assumptions. We build an investment case for each idea and focus on the following key factors:
Competitive advantage Our competitive advantage analysis can be simplified by answering the key questions/topics shown below:
We use these factors to determine the long-term sustainability of the business in question. In addition, we believe a strong balance sheet and outstanding management are also a competitive advantage and ensure we cover these factors during our fundamental analysis.
Intrinsic Value The team conducts full financial and valuation analysis by constructing individual company models to determine the growth, earnings and intrinsic value of the companies under review. Our proprietary equity models are maintained within the team and contain our own forecasts. Research from earlier parts of the process is used and built on here. In undertaking full income statement, cashflow statement and balance sheet analysis we can focus on specific financial metrics which we believe to be the drivers of long-term returns. The output of the equity analysis is a target price for the company across different scenarios. The target price is based on three main components with returns and cash flow being prioritised:
Return profile and growth It is important to note that profitable growth and efficient use of capital is embedded within each of the above calculations. Structural growth and sustainable returns are two key drivers of our stock selection and analysis. We believe growth and returns are key factors in determining a reasonable fair value for any company. We therefore do not claim to be only growth or only value investors, instead we invest in the leading companies within our universe that we believe are intrinsically undervalued.
Management, sustainability/ESG and engagement Capital allocation decisions and operational performance are important considerations for us when evaluating management. Much of these considerations feed into our competitive advantage and valuation work. We also place huge significance on sustainability factors as highlighted in our initial screens. Sustainability reports and net zero emissions targets are important throughout our fundamental analysis as well as topics featuring in team debates. This fundamental bottom-up research stage of the investment process also includes company meetings and onsite visits where we will focus on all the key factors mentioned above. We will only buy a stock for the portfolio when we have met with company management. When all factors described above score positively for an investment idea, we will add it to our list of best ideas and compare to existing holdings.
4) Portfolio construction The best ideas generated through stages 1 – 3 of the investment process are used to construct a portfolio in line with the risk constraints. Ideas are presented in weekly investment meetings and are challenged by the investment team. We operate a team-based approach and all team members have input into idea generation and analysis, with the co-portfolio managers having ultimate decision-making responsibility for the portfolio composition. We will compare any new ideas to the current portfolio characteristics across the main inputs of our investment process. The portfolio is constructed bottom-up in a benchmark-agnostic fashion. Positions are weighted according to our target prices, strength of competitive advantage and the contribution to the portfolio's risk. The portfolio is then reviewed at a sub-sector level with regards to overall risk budget, sub-sector risks, stress tests and style analytics metrics. Weightings may then be adjusted accordingly. We use MSCI Barra One for quantitative portfolio risk analysis and optimisation. We will only buy a stock which/when:
Sell discipline We will revisit a stock if:
Subsequently stocks are typically sold when:
5) Engagement and monitoring We meet management and engage with all portfolio companies on a regular basis. Topics of engagement are not only on financial and operational issues, but any material sustainability issues. We have ongoing engagement goals for each company and will report on this engagement and progress in our annual Impact Report. For example, any company that has sustainability characteristics or externalities which are not best in class, automatically becomes an engagement target. We list the engagement targets for each company, along with the reasons why we believe the company fits in the portfolio and the carbon data in our annual impact report. In our Annual Impact Report, we provide transparency on positions and company engagement, as well as an explanation of why we believe the companies will see structural growth and have a competitive advantage. This report presents significant developments throughout the year, including all environmental metrics for the portfolio and underlying holding as well as engagement goals and progress towards those goals. We are not naïve on where we can and can’t have influence. There are some engagement goals, for example better carbon disclosure, where we would hope to have significant progress in the coming years; others, for example improved gender diversity in the workforce, will regrettably take more time, but we believe are still worth discussing.
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Resources, Affiliations & Corporate StrategiesSustainability knowledge and expertise is held across a number of areas of the business. The Sustainability Committee oversees the wider sustainability ecosystem in the business. Ninety One’s firm-wide sustainability initiatives are overseen by the Chief Sustainability Officer. This includes investment integration, advocacy, corporate transition to net zero and developing and implementing efforts to mobilise dedicated funding for an inclusive net zero transition.
Ultimately, the investment teams have responsibility for managing sustainability risks and opportunities within their investment process through their integration frameworks. We place a big emphasis on ensuring that the investment teams have the appropriate knowledge, insights, data and tools so that the expertise is a truly integrated part of the investment process. The investment teams are supported by dedicated ESG specialists across our Sustainability and Investment Risk team. We also have further expertise that we can draw upon from the portfolio managers managing our dedicated sustainable strategies, and other sustainability specialists that are dedicated to individual investment teams.
We seek to contribute meaningfully to the conversation and to encourage a deeper focus on sustainability-related issues in all of the jurisdictions where we invest. We may collaborate with other investors as part of an engagement strategy if it can contribute to achieving our engagement objectives. Our membership of regional and global organisations facilitates this.
The following details our firmwide collaborative partnerships and our role: (Organisation name and start date)
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DialshifterThis fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by… The Ninety One Global Environment Strategy is a global equity portfolio that allocates to companies that we believe will enable the process of sustainable decarbonisation while generating a positive impact through the concept of “carbon avoided”. It employs a bespoke bottom-up investment process designed specifically for this diverse universe of global equities. The process incorporates proprietary models, such as our environmental/carbon avoided screen and our detailed company-level fundamental financial and risk modelling. We provide transparency on positions and company engagement through our annual Impact Report. This process reflects our core beliefs of sustainable long-term investing and active engagement.
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by… … thinking about our investments holistically, as entities operating within society, all depending on the natural environment. Only by understanding the connections between these can we consistently make the right decisions to preserve and grow the assets entrusted to us for future generations. Our focus on sustainable development started with our roots in Africa, particularly our private markets focus (equity, credit and infrastructure), which showed us the role that capital has to play. We believe that Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations should be integrated with all investment processes, across all asset classes. |
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Last amended: 22/06/23 10:19 |
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05/28/2025