OMR Fidelity Sustainable European Equity

SRI Style:

ESG Plus

SDR Labelling:

-

Product:

Life

Fund Region:

Europe ex UK

Fund Asset Type:

Equity

Launch Date:

30/10/1989

Last Amended:

Jul 2025

Dialshifter ():

Fund/Portfolio Size:

£2.24m

(as at: 30/09/2021)

ISIN:

GB0008092636

Objectives:

The fund aims to increase the value of your investment over a period of five years or more. The fund will invest at least 70% in companies which contribute to positive environmental and/or social outcomes as identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals or the EU Taxonomy and related to themes of health and nutrition, financial inclusion and resilience, decarbonisation, innovation and sustainable infrastructure, and resource efficiency.

The fund invests at least 70% in the shares of continental European companies the majority of whose business activities (e.g.50% or more of revenue) contribute to the positive environmental and social outcomes of the fund’s objectives (the Standard of Sustainability). Up to 30% of the fund may be invested in shares and funds aligned with the financial objective and which do not conflict with it.

Sustainable, Responsible
&/or ESG Overview:

The fund is a high-conviction ESG fund with a focus on long-term sustainable financial and non-financial returns by investing primarily in ESG leaders in Europe (excluding the UK).

Along with providing long term capital appreciation, the fund also aims at delivering sustainable positive societal impacts. More specifically, the aim of this fund, built from a 'best ESG investment universe', is to promote companies having the best practises in terms of sustainability, both in terms of financial and non-financial metrics. This converging approach allows the fund to invest in companies achieving measurable, sustainable and positive financial, social and environmental impacts.

The Fund will invest at least 70% of its assets in companies which contribute to positive environmental and / or social outcomes, across the following sustainability topics: health and nutrition; financial inclusion and resilience; decarbonisation; innovation and sustainable infrastructure; and resource efficiency.

 

Primary fund last amended:

Jul 2025

Information directly from fund manager.

Fund Filters

Sustainability - General
Sustainability policy

Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information.

Sustainability focus

Find funds which substantially focus on sustainability issues

Encourage more sustainable practices through stewardship

A core element of these funds aim to encourage higher sustainability standards across business practices through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity

UN Global Compact linked exclusion policy

Find funds that use the UN Global Compact to inform or help direct where they can or cannot invest and will typically not invest in companies with significant breaches (low standards) - although strategies vary. (The UNGC covers a wide range of issues - search 'UNGC'). See https://unglobalcompact.org/

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) focus

Find funds that specifically aim to invest (and manage assets) in ways that help to address all or some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). See https://sdgs.un.org/goals).

Environmental - General
Environmental policy

Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.

Climate Change & Energy
Climate change / greenhouse gas emissions policy

Funds that have policies (documented strategies that explain their position on) climate change related issues such as greenhouse gas/carbon emissions, net zero, transitioning to lower carbon. Strategies vary. Read fund details for further information.

Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded

Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.

Fracking and tar sands excluded

Funds that avoid companies involved in fracking and tar sands - which are widely regarded as controversial methods of oil and gas extraction. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.

Arctic drilling exclusion

Funds that avoid companies that are involved in extracting oil from the Arctic regions. See fund literature for further details.

Fossil fuel reserves exclusion

Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.

Encourage transition to low carbon through stewardship activity

A core element of these funds will aim to encourage the transition to lower carbon activities through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity

Require net zero action plan from all/most companies

Find funds that require all, or almost all, of the companies it invests in to have a ‘net zero action plan’ - meaning that the companies they invest in have worked out how they will, over time, reduce their total carbon (and other greenhouse gas) emissions to nil.

TCFD reporting requirement (Becoming IFRS)

Will only invest in companies that report greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies in line with the framework set out the by the Taskforce for Climate Related Financial Disclosure, which is increasingly becoming mandatory. See https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/ https ://www.ifrs.org/sustainability/tcfd/

Social / Employment
Social policy

Find funds that have policies which set out their approach to social issues (e.g. human rights, labour standards, equal opportunities, child labour and adherence to internationally recognised codes such as the UN Global Compact). Funds with social policies typically avoid companies with low standards or work to encourage higher standards. See fund information for detail.

Labour standards policy

Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards

Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Ethical policies

Find funds that have policies that set out their position on ethical or 'personal values' based issues. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.

Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded

Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.

Tobacco and related products - avoid where revenue > 5%

Companies are excluded if they make more than 5% of their revenue from the manufacture, sale or distribution of tobacco products including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.

Controversial weapons exclusion

Find funds that exclude companies which make controversial weapons such as landmines, cluster munitions and chemical weapons. See fund literature for further information.

Armaments manufacturers avoided

Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.

Civilian firearms production exclusion

Find funds with a written civilian firearms exclusion policy - meaning that they will not invest in companies that make (or perhaps also sell) handguns made for non-military users.

Human Rights
Human rights policy

Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.

Child labour exclusion

Find funds that have policies in place to ensure they do not invest in companies that employ children.

Oppressive regimes (not free or democratic) exclusion policy

Find funds with policies that exclude companies or other assets where regimes are not democratic, or where people may be oppressed. May use eg. Freedom House research. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Responsible supply chain policy or theme

Find funds that have policies or a theme that relates to the responsible management of supply chains. These may relate to employment issues, notably people employed by their suppliers, as well as the sourcing of materials and products. See fund literature for further information.

Modern slavery exclusion policy

The fund has a policy which excludes assets with involvement in Modern Slavery

Governance & Management
Governance policy

Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Avoids companies with poor governance

Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.

UN sanctions exclusion

Exclude companies that are subject to United Nations sanctions. See eg https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list

Anti-bribery and corruption policy

Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.

Digital / cyber security policy

Find funds that have policies explaining how the fund managers take into account digital/cyber security related risks. Funds with cyber policies will typically favour companies with higher standards or that are helping to solve problems - but strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Encourage board diversity e.g. gender

Fund managers encourage the companies they invest in to have more diverse board structures (e.g. more women on boards)

Encourage TCFD alignment for banks & insurance companies

Find fund managers that encourage the banks and insurance companies they invest in to publish climate change related financial information - as set out by the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (with the aim of helping investors measure and respond to climate risk).

Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity

A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity

Fund Governance
ESG integration strategy

Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature.

Asset Size
Over 50% large cap companies

Find funds that invests more than half of their money into what are commonly regarded as 'large companies'. This will typically mean that the market capitalisation (or value) of the companies they hold is in excess of £5 to £10 billion.

Invests mostly in large cap companies / assets

Find funds that have SRI strategies and focus their investment stock selection on larger companies. (e.g. over circa £5-£10bn)

Targeted Positive Investments
Invests >25% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

Find funds that invest >25% of their capital towards companies where a major part of their business is focused on helping to address environmental or social challenges.

Invests >50% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

Find funds that invest >50% of their capital in companies where a major part of their business is focused on helping to address environmental or social challenges.

How The Fund Works
Positive selection bias

Find funds that focus on finding and investing in companies with positive / beneficial attributes. This strategy can be applied in addition to exclusion criteria and engagement/stewardship activity.

Negative selection bias

Find funds where their main 'ethical approach' is to avoid companies by using negative screening criteria. Read fund literature for further information.

ESG weighted / tilt

Find funds that invest more heavily in those that have higher ESG ratings/standards or scores and less heavily in companies with lower ESG ratings. Where this is central to a fund's strategy you should expect it to invest in most sectors. Strategies vary.

Significant harm exclusion

Aims to avoid companies that do significant harm. This originates from the EU’s sustainable finance ‘DNSH’ (do no significant harm) work, which is not necessarily used by UK investors.

Combines norms based exclusions with other SRI criteria

Find funds that make significant use of internationally agreed 'norms' (e.g. United Nations Global Compact - UNGC - or the UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) as part of their investment selection process alongside additional SRI criteria such as positive or negative stock selection policies and/or stewardship strategies.

Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria

Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.

Focus on ESG risk mitigation

A major focus of these funds is the careful management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related risks - typically by avoiding or being underweight in companies seen as posing major risks in these areas (i.e. not necessarily by using themes, exclusions etc).

SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website

Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies).

Converted from ‘non ESG’ strategy

This fund has changed its mandate. It was previously not an ESG/sustainable fund. The information published here shows the upgraded fund strategy.

Do not use stock / securities lending

This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes.

Unscreened Assets & Cash
Assets typically aligned to sustainability objectives 70 - 79%

The percentage of assets held within the fund that match the fund’s sustainability objectives and are not being held purely for risk management purposes, such as derivatives and cash equivalent assets.

All assets (except cash) meet published sustainability criteria

All assets held in the fund - except cash - meet the sustainability criteria published in fund documentation.

Intended Clients & Product Options
Intended for investors interested in sustainability

Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.

Fund Management Company Information

About The Business
Responsible ownership / stewardship policy or strategy (AFM company wide)

Finds fund management companies that have a published company wide stewardship, engagement and / or responsible ownership policy or strategy that covers all investments. Stewardship typically involves encouraging higher ESG standards through voting and dialogue.

ESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that actively encourage higher 'environmental, social and governance' and/or 'sustainable and responsible investment' practices across investee companies - typically where the aim is to encourage positive change that is aligned with the best interests of investors. Strategies vary. See additional information and options.

Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that vote all* the shares they own at Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings. A commitment to voting shares is a key indicator of 'responsible share ownership' demonstrating their support for or disagreement with management policy. (*situations can legitimately, occasionally occur where voting proves impossible, but in principle all shares should be voted.)

Responsible ownership / ESG a key differentiator (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that consider responsible ownership and ESG to be a key differentiator for their business.

Sustainable property strategy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that take sustainability criteria into account when selecting and/or managing all of their property / real estate investments.

Senior management KPIs include environmental goals (AFM company wide)

The leadership team of this asset manager have performance targets linked to environmental goals.

SDG aligned aims / objectives (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that aim to align all their investments (across all funds) to help meet the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide)

Find funds run by fund managers that apply Responsible ownership or 'Stewardship' policies to all or most of their investment assets. This means active involvement (e.g. voting, dialogue) with the companies they invest in across funds (not normally limited to ethical or SRI options.) Read fund literature for further information.

Integrates ESG factors into all / most (AFM) fund research

Find fund management companies that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when deciding whether or not to invest in a company for all / almost all of their funds and other assets. This is increasingly seen as part of sound risk management.

In-house diversity improvement programme (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have an in-house (company wide) diversity improvement programme - meaning that they are working to ensure that within their own businesses they employ people from diverse backgrounds - often typically focused on ethnicity and/or sex.

Diversity, equality & inclusion engagement policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that encourage the companies they invest in to have strong diversity, race, gender and other equality policies across all assets held, not simply screened or themed SRI/ESG funds. (ie Asset Management company wide).

Invests in newly listed companies (AFM company wide)

This asset management company invests in companies which have recently listed on a stock exchange (which is important as it can help grow new businesses).

Offer structured intermediary training on sustainable investment

Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)

Offer unstructured intermediary sustainable investment training

Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)

Collaborations & Affiliations
PRI signatory

Find fund management companies that have signed up to the UN backed 'Principles of Responsible Investment'.

UKSIF member

Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association

Fund EcoMarket partner

Find fund management companies that have partnered with Fund EcoMarket - meaning that they are helping to improve access to information on sustainable and responsible investment by paying an annual fee to us which enables us to publish information for free. Partner funds are listed ahead of other funds and have their logos displayed.

TNFD forum member (AFM company wide)

A member of the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosures group which aims to aid risk management and shift money towards nature-positive outcomes.

Investment Association (IA) member

Fund management entity is a member of the Investment Association https://www.theia.org/

Resources
In-house responsible ownership / voting expertise

Find fund management companies that employ people to steer and support fund managers in voting shares at company AGM's and EGMs in ways that are consistent with encouraging higher ESG/sustainability standards.

Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers

Find a fund management company that directly employs specialist ESG/SRI/sustainability researchers or analysts. This allows asset managers to discuss environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities directly with companies.

Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies

Find fund management companies that makes use of expert external research companies. This can help deliver specialist expertise and means resources are pooled with other investors.

ESG specialists on all investment desks (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have one or more ESG/sustainability experts on all investment teams or 'desks' (all asset types)

Accreditations
PRI A+ rated (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have an A+ PRI rating - meaning they are highly rated according to the 'Principles of Responsible Investment'

UK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that are signatories to the FRC UK Stewardship Code, which sets out a framework for constructive investor / investee relations where fund managers are encouraged to behave like responsible, typically longer term 'company owners'.

Engagement Approach
Regularly lead collaborative ESG initiatives (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that regularly initiate or run industry wide (collaborative) investor projects aimed at raising environmental, social and governance standards amongst investee companies.

Encourage responsible corporate taxation (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working with the companies they invest in to encourage more responsible corporate taxation.

Engaging on climate change issues

Fund manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that is focused on addressing climate change with investee assets.

Engaging with fossil fuel companies on climate change

Asset manager has a stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that involves working with fossil fuel companies on climate change related issues. See fund manager website for details.

Engaging to reduce plastics pollution / waste

Asset manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy with involves encouraging investee asset to reduce plastic waste and pollution.

Engaging to encourage responsible mining practices

Asset manager has a stewardship / responsible ownership policy that means they are working to encourage more responsible mining practices - where environmental and social issues are properly dealt with by the companies they invest in.

Engaging on biodiversity / nature issues

The asset manager has a responsible ownership / stewardship strategy that focuses on biodiversity and nature issues relating to the assets they invest the aim of which will be to reduce harm and or deliver improvement. Strategies vary. https://tnfd.global

Engaging to encourage a Just Transition

Asset manager has a responsible ownership / stewardship strategy which means they are working to encourage the shift to more sustainable business practices in ways that respect and are sensitive to social issues and the impact change has on people effected by the changes that are taking place. https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/ https://transitiontaskforce.net/

Engaging on human rights issues

Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place which aims to address human rights issues in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers) with the aim of raising standards

Engaging on labour / employment issues

Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place that aims to improve labour standards for the benefit of employees in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers)

Engaging on diversity, equality and / or inclusion issues

Asset management company has a stewardship strategy in place which involves working to raise diversity, equality and inclusion standards across investee assets

Engaging to stop modern slavery

working with the assets they hold to help stamp out modern slavery - where direct or indirect company employees are exploited for business benefits.

Engaging on governance issues

Fund managers have stewardship strategies in place that focus on improving governance standards across investee assets

Engaging on mental health issues

Asset manager has stewardship strategy in place which involves discussing mental health issues with investee companies - with the aim of raising standards

Engaging on responsible supply chain issues

Has a stewardship / responsible ownership strategy that encourages responsible supply chain - ie the managers will discuss environmental, social and governance issues with investee companies with the aim of raising standards

Stewardship escalation policy

Escalation policies describe how a manager will proceed if stewardship / engagement activity is not successful in the short term.

Company Wide Exclusions
Controversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies (not funds) that avoid investment in 'controversial weapons' across all of their funds and other investment vehicles.

Nuclear exclusion policy (AFM company wide)

Fund management company excludes assets with significant involvement in the nuclear industry - across all funds. Strategies vary.

Climate & Net Zero Transition
Net Zero commitment (AFM company wide)

Fund management organisations that have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net zero’. Strategies vary - this area is changing rapidly.

Voting policy includes net zero targets (AFM company wide)

Fund manager AGM / EGM voting strategy has processes in place that mean they will normally be expected to vote in a way that will encourage the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Publish 'CEO owned' Climate Risk policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that have published a Climate Risk policy or statement that is signed / owned by their Chief Executive.

Net Zero - have set a Net Zero target date (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has set a date by which they plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas / CO2e emissions.

Encourage carbon / greenhouse gas reduction (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working with the companies they invest in to encourage reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon transition plan published (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have a company wide carbon transition plan - meaning that they have plotted a path to how they will move away from activities that produce or use carbon based energy sources (that emit greenhouse gases) towards clean, alternative, renewable energy sources.

Carbon offsetting – do NOT offset carbon as part of net zero plan (AFM company wide)

This asset management company plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (CO2e) emissions by reducing their emissions. Calculations and scope vary.

In-house carbon / GHG reduction policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working to reduce their own (fund management company) carbon/greenhouse gas emissions.

Working towards a ‘Net Zero’ commitment (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund management companies that are in the process of working out how to make a ‘net zero commitment’ - meaning that when that is finalised they will have started the process of reducing their total greenhouse gas emissions to'zero'.

Transparency
Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that publish a report detailing their responsible investment ownership - also known as 'Stewardship' - activity.

Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information on company website

Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.

Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information available on request

Find fund management companies that will supply information about their sustainable and responsible investment activity on request.

Publish full voting record (AFM company wide)

Fund management companies that publish a full record of how they vote their shares at AGMs (annual general meetings) and EGMs (extraordinary general meetings). Voting strategies have an important role to play encouraging higher environmental, social and governance standards.

Sustainability transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they are to become a sustainable business - without significant negative environmental or social impacts.

Paris Alignment plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they will align to the climate change commitments made at the Paris Climate Talks, COP21.

Net Zero transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they are going to achieve net zero greenhouse gas / CO2e emissions.

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

The FIF Sustainable European Equity Fund is a high-conviction ESG fund with a focus on long-term sustainable financial and non-financial returns by investing primarily in ESG leaders in Europe (excluding the UK).

The fund is managed by Lead Portfolio Manager Vincent Durel and Assistant Portfolio Manager Aela Cozic. Vincent and Aela use bottom-up analysis to select companies in terms of quality, growth and returns and ESG analysis at stock and sector levels, to select companies having best practices, sustainable development, high ESG scores and low controversy risks. It is a research-driven approach involving fundamental research, leveraging on Fidelity’s proprietary research and additional market data.

Impact and sustainable investment approach

At Fidelity, we believe that sustainable investment makes good business sense and helps to protect and enhance investment returns. Consequently, the fund’s investment process takes ESG factors into account as these can have a material impact on investment performance. ESG integration occurs across all sectors and markets in which Vincent and Aela invest.

The fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing principally in the equity securities of companies which either have their head office in or are quoted on stock exchanges within Europe (excluding the UK).

Along with providing long-term capital appreciation, the fund also aims at delivering sustainable positive societal impacts. More specifically, the aim of this fund, built from a 'best ESG investment universe', is to promote companies having the best practices in terms of sustainability, both in terms of financial and non-financial metrics. This converging approach allows the fund to invest in companies achieving measurable, sustainable and positive financial, social and environmental impacts.

Vincent and Aela believe strongly in active ownership and engagement with all companies held within the fund, to influence positive change and agree on milestones and timelines to do so. The engagement process helps Vincent and Aela to achieve holistic, corporate insights which influence investment analysis and the proxy voting process, along with helping companies to adopt better strategies.

The fund is subject to a firm-wide exclusion list, which includes, but is not limited to, companies involved in the production and/or distribution of cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines. Besides our firm-wide Exclusion Policy, norms-based screening is performed and includes issuers which Vincent and Aela consider having failed to conduct their business in accordance with accepted international norms, including as set out in the United Nations Global Compact. Sector exclusions include defence and weapons (such as cluster munitions, landmines, semi-automatic firearms and controversial weapons), adult entertainment, gambling, tobacco, nuclear power plant generation and operations, uranium mining, coal mining, fracking, fossil fuel extraction and oil sands.

The fund will aim to have a lower carbon footprint compared to that of the broader market, by excluding companies with high carbon intensity (typically greater than 400 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) / US$1 million sales, Scope 1 and 2). Furthermore, the fund will assess its underlying holdings for attainment of relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through the investment management process, Vincent and Aela aim to ensure that investee companies follow good governance practices.

The fund is part of the Fidelity Sustainable Family of Funds and adopts a sustainable focused strategy under which a minimum of 70% of the fund’s net assets will be invested in securities deemed to maintain sustainable characteristics (as described in the section entitled ‘Fidelity Sustainable Family of Funds’ in the prospectus). Sustainable characteristics are defined by reference to a combination of different measurements such as ESG ratings provided by external agencies or Fidelity Sustainability Ratings.

A maximum of 30% of the fund’s net assets are allowed in issuers that are not deemed to maintain sustainable characteristics in accordance with the criteria above, but which demonstrate improving sustainable indicators.

Process:

Investment process

The investment process of the fund can be broken down into four separate stages:

  • Defining a best ESG investment universe.
  • Stock research and selection.
  • Portfolio construction (well defined buy and sell discipline) and risk control.
  • Engagement with all companies in the portfolio through an active ownership framework.

Best ESG investment universe

The best ESG investment universe only comprises of sustainable leaders with strong ESG credentials and low carbon footprints. This elimination leads to approximately 20–25%* exclusion from the investment universe:

  • Exclusion of stocks with low ESG ratings (lower than BBB MSCI ESG Ratings).
  • Exclusion of companies with high carbon intensity (typically greater than 500 tonnes of CO2 / US$1 million sales, Scope ‘1’ and ‘2’).
  • Exclusion of fossil fuel extraction.
  • Norms-based exclusions: United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) violations.
  • Sector exclusions*: Controversial weapons, tobacco, civilian firearms, gambling, adult entertainment, uranium mining, nuclear power plant operators or producers of key nuclear-specific products, nuclear power industry, coal mining, oil sands, fracking, coal fired power generation.
  • Firm exclusions: cluster munition, anti-personal landmines.

*Source: Fidelity International, as at 31 March 2023. Exclusions are based on a 5% revenue threshold and are applied at issuer level.

Stock research and selection

The fundamental analysis process involves both financial and ESG analysis. Vincent and Aela use bottom-up analysis to select companies in terms of quality, growth and returns (four pillars listed in picture below) and an ESG analysis at stock (three pillars) and sector (typically 80 Key ESG issues) levels to select companies having best practises, sustainable development, high ESG scores and low controversy risks.

This converging approach allows Vincent and Aela to select a portfolio with strong sustainable characteristics, achieving measurable, positive, and sustainable impacts that contribute to specific investable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, all positive impacts generated by the fund are the results of the stock selection process.

Portfolio construction and risk management

Final selection and position sizing are based on conviction level, liquidity, concentration risk, market timing and other supportive catalysts and events. The final portfolio is comprised of typically 35–50 stocks, with highest conviction names making up for larger positions.

Vincent’s risk-management process has multiple lines of defence:

  • Absolute risk – focus on quality companies, balance sheet strength and liquidity.
  • Relative risk – awareness of overall cumulative active positions within the fund and correlations within the portfolio.
  • Currency risk – monitored to ensure understanding of sources of currency risk.
  • ESG risk – assess and monitor ESG-related risk.
  • Portfolio management monitoring – ongoing monitoring of risk exposures, sector weights.
  • Oversight – investment risk, Quarterly Fund Review (QFR) and Quarterly Sustainability Review (QSR) process.

ESG engagement and active ownership

An active ownership framework and engagement with all companies held within the fund is conducted to influence change and agree on milestones and timelines. This enables Vincent and Aela to gain enhanced, holistic, corporate insights which influence investment analysis and the proxy voting process. The main aspects of engagement are as follows:

  • Clear goals and process.
  • Strong potential to positively influence companies.
  • Proxy voting – effective tool to engage with firms if used efficiently.
  • Management dialogue – direct dialogue with company’s management team and board of directors.
  • Collaboration between analyst, ESG specialists and portfolio managers.

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:

Fidelity has been committed to sustainability for over a decade. Having launched our Principles of Ownership in 2003 and as a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment since 2012, sustainable investing has been, and remains, a key priority. We have an extensive global research network of fundamental research analysts with broad bottom-up asset class coverage who works closely with our global sustainability team. 

As an investment manager, we have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of our clients. As such we have developed our approach to sustainable investing, comprising three key components (integration, stewardship, and solutions), as articulated in our Sustainable Investing Principles.  This approach aims to provide our clients with investment solutions that meet their financial and non-financial objectives, and to comply with rapidly evolving sustainability regulations for product labelling and disclosure. 

Proprietary ratings and tools sit at the heart of Fidelity’s sustainable investing approach, facilitating the integration of sustainability in our fundamental research and ensuring a consistent approach. These tools include:

 ESG Ratings: an assessment of management and mitigation of ESG risks.

Our ESG Ratings aim to provide a forward-looking assessment of an issuer’s sustainability characteristics, with emphasis on how it operates and the associated negative impact and risks.

Four key principles underpin our ESG Ratings:

  • Consideration of both non-financial and financial impacts ('double materiality'). A focus on absolute impacts allows comparison across sectors and geographies.
  • Providing a forward-looking perspective that is complementary to our financial forecasts, helping to inform the long-term prospects of an individual issuer. 
  • Consideration of material impact across more than 100 individual subsectors for a more focused and relevant set of indicators.
  • Flexible output for different use cases. Individual E, S, and G scores provide guidance for determining an overall ESG score at the issuer level and trajectory ratings.

Note: Third party ESG ratings may apply when a Fidelity ESG rating is not available. The prioritisation between third party ESG ratings and Fidelity ESG ratings may vary across products, please refer to the prospectus for more information.

 Climate Ratings: alignment to the outcome of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Our Climate Ratings assess an issuer’s operational alignment to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, providing a holistic view of climate-related risks and opportunities. We look at three key areas:

  • Carbon emissions disclosure: Disclosure of Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions.
  • Emissions reduction targets: Concentrates on current emissions, net zero GHG emissions ambitions, targets and carbon reduction targets.
  • Climate governance: Analyses executive remuneration plans linked to climate ambitions, as well as governance responsibilities and oversight.

 SDG Tool: an assessment of positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our SDG Tool provides an insight into an issuer’s positive contribution to environmental and social outcomes. Here, we focus on products and services (what an entity does), rather than operational alignment (how an entity operates).

It is intended to complement our ESG Ratings, which assess the management of adverse impacts arising from ESG issues.

SDG Tool primary use cases:

  • Issuer and entity-level assessment - analyses the percentage of revenue that contributes to each SDG. This can be used as the input to help define a thematic investment universe.
  • Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) - under SFDR, there is a requirement to identify issuers that make a positive contribution to an environmental or social outcome and can qualify as ’sustainable investments‘. 
  • Reporting - provides the ability to report the contribution of a fund’s investments to the SDGs to our clients on a consistent and scalable basis.

 Quarterly Sustainability Reviews: an internal forum to review relevant quantitative and qualitative metrics and discuss sustainability integration in specific strategies.

Our integration tools and processes also support the prioritisation of stewardship activities and the development of solutions that meet different regulatory requirements and client objectives.

Furthermore, we promote active ownership as the steward of our clients’ assets, supporting real world sustainability outcomes that help us to fulfil our fiduciary duty. Effective and outcomes-focused stewardship combines bottom-up corporate engagement, top-down thematic engagement, and system-wide stewardship. This approach is essential to drive change and encourages regular engagement and dialogue which we believe is more efficient than exclusions because this simply diverts the problem elsewhere. We believe that monitoring the progress of engagements is as important as initiating them to assess change over time. The outcomes (or lack of outcomes) resulting from our engagements can be reflected by investment analysts in our ESG ratings and used to inform investment decisions. Our Voting Principles and Guidelines sets out our minimum expectations for our investee companies in key areas including climate change, deforestation, and gender diversity. 

 

Sustainability Team

As an active bottom-up research house, we have always looked beyond financial reporting to gauge the value of an investment. This involves maintaining ongoing dialogue with investee companies, staying vigilant to the evolving regulatory landscape, and monitoring other factors that could influence sustainable cash flows over our investment horizon, including those currently categorised as ESG. We began formally integrating ESG considerations into our investment and research processes since becoming a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment in October 2012. 

As a logical consequence of our focus on sustainability, we established our Sustainability Team over a decade ago. Initially a small group based in London, the team has now grown to include 30* professionals with the global presence spanning London, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Melbourne. Members of our Sustainability Team bring a diverse skill set, including expertise in research, climate science, and governance, with many boasting over a decade of experience.

The significant expansion of our team - nearly half of whom joined in 2021 or later - underscores the growing importance of sustainability within the financial services sector. This increase in team size, knowledge, and skillset has also allowed us to organise the team based on specialisation. Broadly, the team is divided into specialists focused on:

  • Stewardship and research
  • Strategy, product, and governance
  • Client engagement

Within these broad areas, sustainable investing specialists focus on key themes such as climate, diversity, deforestation and circular economy among others.

*Source: Fidelity International, as at 31 March 2025. Excludes China AMC resources. 

Industry collaboration

Fidelity recognises the importance of networks and information platforms for sharing tools and pooling resources, using investor reporting as a source of learning. Our Sustainability Team keeps its current and potential membership of investor organisations under constant review. We monitor all international treaties, supranational organisations and other sustainability memberships to ensure we are up to date with market trends and to stay involved in the debate (listed per category):

Gender Diversity:

  • 30% Club Australia (2021)
  • 30% Club Hong Kong (2022)
  • 30% Club Japan (2019)
  • 30% Club Investors Group (2019)
  • 40:40 Vision (2020)
  • Bright Network Women in Leadership
  • Lord Mayor's Appeal - We Can Be
  • Women in Finance Charter (2017)
  • Women on Boards (2018)

Social Inclusion and Diversity:

  • #10000 Black Interns (2020)
  • BBBA Talent Accelerator (2020)
  • Black North Initiative
  • Black Young Professionals
  • Catalyst After School Programme
  • Disability:IN (2022)
  • Diversity Project
  • LGBT Great (2019)
  • Lord Mayor's Appeal (2019)
  • Minority Supplier Development UK (2020)
  • OutBritain (2022)
  • President’s Challenge Enabling Employment Pledge and Enabling Mark (2023)
  • Race at Work Charter
  • Social Enterprise UK (2021)
  • Social Mobility Foundation (2021)
  • Stonewall (2016)
  • Trans in the City (2021)
  • Valuable 500 (2019)
  • Veteran Owned UK (2021)
  • WeConnect International (2021)

Climate Change:

  • Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (2020)
  • CDP - formerly Carbon Disclosure Project (2019)
  • Climate Bonds Initiative (2019)
  • Climate Investment Summit (2022)
  • Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment
  • Global Standard on Responsible Corporate Climate Lobbying (2022)
  • Green Finance Industry Taskforce Singapore (2020)
  • Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (2021)
  • Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (2020)
  • Investor Agenda (2021)
  • Investor Group on Climate Change (2021)
  • Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (2020)
  • One Planet Asset Manager Initiative (2021)
  • Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (2022)
  • Point Zero Carbon Programme (2022)
  • Powering Past Coal Alliance (2021)
  • Transition Pathway Initiative (2021)
  • UN Climate Change Conference (2021)

Responsible Investment and Finance:

  • Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2015)
  • Asia Research & Engagement (2023)
  • European Sustainable Investment Forum (2017)
  • European Public Real Estate Association (2023)
  • Hong Kong Green Finance Association (2020)
  • International Regulatory Strategy Group
  • Investment Association (2010)
  • Investor Forum - UK (2014)
  • Principles for Responsible Investing (2012)
  • The Purposeful Company Task Force
  • Responsible Investment Association Australasia (2021)
  • Sustainable Trading (2005)
  • UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (2010)
  • World Benchmarking Alliance (2020)

Governance and Corporate Accountability:

  • Asian Corporate Governance Association (2004)
  • Assogestioni (2007)
  • Corporate Governance Forum (2009)
  • Hong Kong Principles of Responsible Ownership (2017)
  • International Corporate Governance Network (2005)
  • Japanese Stewardship Code (2014)
  • Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Stewardship Principles for Institutional Investors (2016)
  • UK Stewardship Code (2010)

Biodiversity:

  • Finance for Biodiversity (2021)
  • Finance for Biodiversity Pledge (2021)
  • Green Praxis Biodiversity (2022)
  • Natural Capital Investment Alliance (2021)
  • Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Forum (2021)
  • The Finance Sector Deforestation Action Initiative (2023)

Other Initiatives and Collaborations:

  • Council for Sustainable Business
  • Edinburgh Airport Sustainability Pledge
  • Environment management system standard ISO 14001 (2023)
  • Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (2020)
  • Inspiring More Sustainability (2019)
  • Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia-Pacific (2020)
  • Maastricht University & GRESB (2021)
  • Mental Health First Aid Training (2017)
  • WEF Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics (2019)
  • WorkWell Leaders (2023)

Fund Holdings

Voting Record

Disclaimer

This information must not be reproduced or circulated without prior permission.

This information does not constitute investment advice unless specifically agreed in a formal communication.

Fidelity International refers to the group of companies which form the global investment management organisation that provides information on products and services in designated jurisdictions outside of North America. Unless otherwise stated all products and services are provided by Fidelity International, and all views expressed are those of Fidelity International. Fidelity, Fidelity International, the Fidelity International logo and F symbol are registered trademarks of FIL Limited. FIL Limited assets and resources as at 31/03/2025 - data is unaudited.

Fidelity Investment Funds, Fidelity Investment Funds 2, Fidelity Investment Funds III, Fidelity Investment Funds IV and Fidelity Investment Funds IX are open-ended investment companies (OEICs) with variable capital, incorporated in England and Wales, being authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Authorised Corporate Director of these OEICs is FIL Investment Services (UK) Limited.

Issued by FIL Pensions Management. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

RFP2025CN0009910

Fund Name SRI Style SDR Labelling Product Region Asset Type Launch Date Last Amended

OMR Fidelity Sustainable European Equity

ESG Plus - Life Europe ex UK Equity 30/10/1989 Jul 2025

Objectives

The fund aims to increase the value of your investment over a period of five years or more. The fund will invest at least 70% in companies which contribute to positive environmental and/or social outcomes as identified by the UN Sustainable Development Goals or the EU Taxonomy and related to themes of health and nutrition, financial inclusion and resilience, decarbonisation, innovation and sustainable infrastructure, and resource efficiency.

The fund invests at least 70% in the shares of continental European companies the majority of whose business activities (e.g.50% or more of revenue) contribute to the positive environmental and social outcomes of the fund’s objectives (the Standard of Sustainability). Up to 30% of the fund may be invested in shares and funds aligned with the financial objective and which do not conflict with it.

Fund/Portfolio Size: £2.24m

(as at: 30/09/2021)

ISIN: GB0008092636

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Overview

This product is linked to the "Fidelity Sustainable European Equity" fund. The following information refers to the primary fund.

The fund is a high-conviction ESG fund with a focus on long-term sustainable financial and non-financial returns by investing primarily in ESG leaders in Europe (excluding the UK).

Along with providing long term capital appreciation, the fund also aims at delivering sustainable positive societal impacts. More specifically, the aim of this fund, built from a 'best ESG investment universe', is to promote companies having the best practises in terms of sustainability, both in terms of financial and non-financial metrics. This converging approach allows the fund to invest in companies achieving measurable, sustainable and positive financial, social and environmental impacts.

The Fund will invest at least 70% of its assets in companies which contribute to positive environmental and / or social outcomes, across the following sustainability topics: health and nutrition; financial inclusion and resilience; decarbonisation; innovation and sustainable infrastructure; and resource efficiency.

 

Primary fund last amended: Jul 2025

Information received directly from Fund Manager

Please select what you would like to read:

Fund Filters

Sustainability - General
Sustainability policy

Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information.

Sustainability focus

Find funds which substantially focus on sustainability issues

Encourage more sustainable practices through stewardship

A core element of these funds aim to encourage higher sustainability standards across business practices through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity

UN Global Compact linked exclusion policy

Find funds that use the UN Global Compact to inform or help direct where they can or cannot invest and will typically not invest in companies with significant breaches (low standards) - although strategies vary. (The UNGC covers a wide range of issues - search 'UNGC'). See https://unglobalcompact.org/

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) focus

Find funds that specifically aim to invest (and manage assets) in ways that help to address all or some of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). See https://sdgs.un.org/goals).

Environmental - General
Environmental policy

Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.

Climate Change & Energy
Climate change / greenhouse gas emissions policy

Funds that have policies (documented strategies that explain their position on) climate change related issues such as greenhouse gas/carbon emissions, net zero, transitioning to lower carbon. Strategies vary. Read fund details for further information.

Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded

Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.

Fracking and tar sands excluded

Funds that avoid companies involved in fracking and tar sands - which are widely regarded as controversial methods of oil and gas extraction. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.

Arctic drilling exclusion

Funds that avoid companies that are involved in extracting oil from the Arctic regions. See fund literature for further details.

Fossil fuel reserves exclusion

Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.

Encourage transition to low carbon through stewardship activity

A core element of these funds will aim to encourage the transition to lower carbon activities through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity

Require net zero action plan from all/most companies

Find funds that require all, or almost all, of the companies it invests in to have a ‘net zero action plan’ - meaning that the companies they invest in have worked out how they will, over time, reduce their total carbon (and other greenhouse gas) emissions to nil.

TCFD reporting requirement (Becoming IFRS)

Will only invest in companies that report greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies in line with the framework set out the by the Taskforce for Climate Related Financial Disclosure, which is increasingly becoming mandatory. See https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/ https ://www.ifrs.org/sustainability/tcfd/

Social / Employment
Social policy

Find funds that have policies which set out their approach to social issues (e.g. human rights, labour standards, equal opportunities, child labour and adherence to internationally recognised codes such as the UN Global Compact). Funds with social policies typically avoid companies with low standards or work to encourage higher standards. See fund information for detail.

Labour standards policy

Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards

Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Ethical policies

Find funds that have policies that set out their position on ethical or 'personal values' based issues. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.

Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded

Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.

Tobacco and related products - avoid where revenue > 5%

Companies are excluded if they make more than 5% of their revenue from the manufacture, sale or distribution of tobacco products including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.

Controversial weapons exclusion

Find funds that exclude companies which make controversial weapons such as landmines, cluster munitions and chemical weapons. See fund literature for further information.

Armaments manufacturers avoided

Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.

Civilian firearms production exclusion

Find funds with a written civilian firearms exclusion policy - meaning that they will not invest in companies that make (or perhaps also sell) handguns made for non-military users.

Human Rights
Human rights policy

Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.

Child labour exclusion

Find funds that have policies in place to ensure they do not invest in companies that employ children.

Oppressive regimes (not free or democratic) exclusion policy

Find funds with policies that exclude companies or other assets where regimes are not democratic, or where people may be oppressed. May use eg. Freedom House research. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Responsible supply chain policy or theme

Find funds that have policies or a theme that relates to the responsible management of supply chains. These may relate to employment issues, notably people employed by their suppliers, as well as the sourcing of materials and products. See fund literature for further information.

Modern slavery exclusion policy

The fund has a policy which excludes assets with involvement in Modern Slavery

Governance & Management
Governance policy

Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Avoids companies with poor governance

Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.

UN sanctions exclusion

Exclude companies that are subject to United Nations sanctions. See eg https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list

Anti-bribery and corruption policy

Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.

Digital / cyber security policy

Find funds that have policies explaining how the fund managers take into account digital/cyber security related risks. Funds with cyber policies will typically favour companies with higher standards or that are helping to solve problems - but strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.

Encourage board diversity e.g. gender

Fund managers encourage the companies they invest in to have more diverse board structures (e.g. more women on boards)

Encourage TCFD alignment for banks & insurance companies

Find fund managers that encourage the banks and insurance companies they invest in to publish climate change related financial information - as set out by the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (with the aim of helping investors measure and respond to climate risk).

Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity

A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity

Fund Governance
ESG integration strategy

Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature.

Asset Size
Over 50% large cap companies

Find funds that invests more than half of their money into what are commonly regarded as 'large companies'. This will typically mean that the market capitalisation (or value) of the companies they hold is in excess of £5 to £10 billion.

Invests mostly in large cap companies / assets

Find funds that have SRI strategies and focus their investment stock selection on larger companies. (e.g. over circa £5-£10bn)

Targeted Positive Investments
Invests >25% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

Find funds that invest >25% of their capital towards companies where a major part of their business is focused on helping to address environmental or social challenges.

Invests >50% of fund in environmental/social solutions companies

Find funds that invest >50% of their capital in companies where a major part of their business is focused on helping to address environmental or social challenges.

How The Fund Works
Positive selection bias

Find funds that focus on finding and investing in companies with positive / beneficial attributes. This strategy can be applied in addition to exclusion criteria and engagement/stewardship activity.

Negative selection bias

Find funds where their main 'ethical approach' is to avoid companies by using negative screening criteria. Read fund literature for further information.

ESG weighted / tilt

Find funds that invest more heavily in those that have higher ESG ratings/standards or scores and less heavily in companies with lower ESG ratings. Where this is central to a fund's strategy you should expect it to invest in most sectors. Strategies vary.

Significant harm exclusion

Aims to avoid companies that do significant harm. This originates from the EU’s sustainable finance ‘DNSH’ (do no significant harm) work, which is not necessarily used by UK investors.

Combines norms based exclusions with other SRI criteria

Find funds that make significant use of internationally agreed 'norms' (e.g. United Nations Global Compact - UNGC - or the UN Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs) as part of their investment selection process alongside additional SRI criteria such as positive or negative stock selection policies and/or stewardship strategies.

Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria

Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.

Focus on ESG risk mitigation

A major focus of these funds is the careful management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related risks - typically by avoiding or being underweight in companies seen as posing major risks in these areas (i.e. not necessarily by using themes, exclusions etc).

SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website

Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies).

Converted from ‘non ESG’ strategy

This fund has changed its mandate. It was previously not an ESG/sustainable fund. The information published here shows the upgraded fund strategy.

Do not use stock / securities lending

This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes.

Unscreened Assets & Cash
Assets typically aligned to sustainability objectives 70 - 79%

The percentage of assets held within the fund that match the fund’s sustainability objectives and are not being held purely for risk management purposes, such as derivatives and cash equivalent assets.

All assets (except cash) meet published sustainability criteria

All assets held in the fund - except cash - meet the sustainability criteria published in fund documentation.

Intended Clients & Product Options
Intended for investors interested in sustainability

Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.

Fund Management Company Information

About The Business
Responsible ownership / stewardship policy or strategy (AFM company wide)

Finds fund management companies that have a published company wide stewardship, engagement and / or responsible ownership policy or strategy that covers all investments. Stewardship typically involves encouraging higher ESG standards through voting and dialogue.

ESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that actively encourage higher 'environmental, social and governance' and/or 'sustainable and responsible investment' practices across investee companies - typically where the aim is to encourage positive change that is aligned with the best interests of investors. Strategies vary. See additional information and options.

Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that vote all* the shares they own at Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings. A commitment to voting shares is a key indicator of 'responsible share ownership' demonstrating their support for or disagreement with management policy. (*situations can legitimately, occasionally occur where voting proves impossible, but in principle all shares should be voted.)

Responsible ownership / ESG a key differentiator (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that consider responsible ownership and ESG to be a key differentiator for their business.

Sustainable property strategy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that take sustainability criteria into account when selecting and/or managing all of their property / real estate investments.

Senior management KPIs include environmental goals (AFM company wide)

The leadership team of this asset manager have performance targets linked to environmental goals.

SDG aligned aims / objectives (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that aim to align all their investments (across all funds) to help meet the aims of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide)

Find funds run by fund managers that apply Responsible ownership or 'Stewardship' policies to all or most of their investment assets. This means active involvement (e.g. voting, dialogue) with the companies they invest in across funds (not normally limited to ethical or SRI options.) Read fund literature for further information.

Integrates ESG factors into all / most (AFM) fund research

Find fund management companies that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when deciding whether or not to invest in a company for all / almost all of their funds and other assets. This is increasingly seen as part of sound risk management.

In-house diversity improvement programme (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have an in-house (company wide) diversity improvement programme - meaning that they are working to ensure that within their own businesses they employ people from diverse backgrounds - often typically focused on ethnicity and/or sex.

Diversity, equality & inclusion engagement policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that encourage the companies they invest in to have strong diversity, race, gender and other equality policies across all assets held, not simply screened or themed SRI/ESG funds. (ie Asset Management company wide).

Invests in newly listed companies (AFM company wide)

This asset management company invests in companies which have recently listed on a stock exchange (which is important as it can help grow new businesses).

Offer structured intermediary training on sustainable investment

Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)

Offer unstructured intermediary sustainable investment training

Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)

Collaborations & Affiliations
PRI signatory

Find fund management companies that have signed up to the UN backed 'Principles of Responsible Investment'.

UKSIF member

Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association

Fund EcoMarket partner

Find fund management companies that have partnered with Fund EcoMarket - meaning that they are helping to improve access to information on sustainable and responsible investment by paying an annual fee to us which enables us to publish information for free. Partner funds are listed ahead of other funds and have their logos displayed.

TNFD forum member (AFM company wide)

A member of the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosures group which aims to aid risk management and shift money towards nature-positive outcomes.

Investment Association (IA) member

Fund management entity is a member of the Investment Association https://www.theia.org/

Resources
In-house responsible ownership / voting expertise

Find fund management companies that employ people to steer and support fund managers in voting shares at company AGM's and EGMs in ways that are consistent with encouraging higher ESG/sustainability standards.

Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers

Find a fund management company that directly employs specialist ESG/SRI/sustainability researchers or analysts. This allows asset managers to discuss environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities directly with companies.

Use specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability research companies

Find fund management companies that makes use of expert external research companies. This can help deliver specialist expertise and means resources are pooled with other investors.

ESG specialists on all investment desks (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have one or more ESG/sustainability experts on all investment teams or 'desks' (all asset types)

Accreditations
PRI A+ rated (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have an A+ PRI rating - meaning they are highly rated according to the 'Principles of Responsible Investment'

UK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide)

Find fund managers that are signatories to the FRC UK Stewardship Code, which sets out a framework for constructive investor / investee relations where fund managers are encouraged to behave like responsible, typically longer term 'company owners'.

Engagement Approach
Regularly lead collaborative ESG initiatives (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that regularly initiate or run industry wide (collaborative) investor projects aimed at raising environmental, social and governance standards amongst investee companies.

Encourage responsible corporate taxation (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working with the companies they invest in to encourage more responsible corporate taxation.

Engaging on climate change issues

Fund manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that is focused on addressing climate change with investee assets.

Engaging with fossil fuel companies on climate change

Asset manager has a stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that involves working with fossil fuel companies on climate change related issues. See fund manager website for details.

Engaging to reduce plastics pollution / waste

Asset manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy with involves encouraging investee asset to reduce plastic waste and pollution.

Engaging to encourage responsible mining practices

Asset manager has a stewardship / responsible ownership policy that means they are working to encourage more responsible mining practices - where environmental and social issues are properly dealt with by the companies they invest in.

Engaging on biodiversity / nature issues

The asset manager has a responsible ownership / stewardship strategy that focuses on biodiversity and nature issues relating to the assets they invest the aim of which will be to reduce harm and or deliver improvement. Strategies vary. https://tnfd.global

Engaging to encourage a Just Transition

Asset manager has a responsible ownership / stewardship strategy which means they are working to encourage the shift to more sustainable business practices in ways that respect and are sensitive to social issues and the impact change has on people effected by the changes that are taking place. https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/ https://transitiontaskforce.net/

Engaging on human rights issues

Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place which aims to address human rights issues in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers) with the aim of raising standards

Engaging on labour / employment issues

Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place that aims to improve labour standards for the benefit of employees in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers)

Engaging on diversity, equality and / or inclusion issues

Asset management company has a stewardship strategy in place which involves working to raise diversity, equality and inclusion standards across investee assets

Engaging to stop modern slavery

working with the assets they hold to help stamp out modern slavery - where direct or indirect company employees are exploited for business benefits.

Engaging on governance issues

Fund managers have stewardship strategies in place that focus on improving governance standards across investee assets

Engaging on mental health issues

Asset manager has stewardship strategy in place which involves discussing mental health issues with investee companies - with the aim of raising standards

Engaging on responsible supply chain issues

Has a stewardship / responsible ownership strategy that encourages responsible supply chain - ie the managers will discuss environmental, social and governance issues with investee companies with the aim of raising standards

Stewardship escalation policy

Escalation policies describe how a manager will proceed if stewardship / engagement activity is not successful in the short term.

Company Wide Exclusions
Controversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies (not funds) that avoid investment in 'controversial weapons' across all of their funds and other investment vehicles.

Nuclear exclusion policy (AFM company wide)

Fund management company excludes assets with significant involvement in the nuclear industry - across all funds. Strategies vary.

Climate & Net Zero Transition
Net Zero commitment (AFM company wide)

Fund management organisations that have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net zero’. Strategies vary - this area is changing rapidly.

Voting policy includes net zero targets (AFM company wide)

Fund manager AGM / EGM voting strategy has processes in place that mean they will normally be expected to vote in a way that will encourage the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Publish 'CEO owned' Climate Risk policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that have published a Climate Risk policy or statement that is signed / owned by their Chief Executive.

Net Zero - have set a Net Zero target date (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has set a date by which they plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas / CO2e emissions.

Encourage carbon / greenhouse gas reduction (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working with the companies they invest in to encourage reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon transition plan published (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund managers that have a company wide carbon transition plan - meaning that they have plotted a path to how they will move away from activities that produce or use carbon based energy sources (that emit greenhouse gases) towards clean, alternative, renewable energy sources.

Carbon offsetting – do NOT offset carbon as part of net zero plan (AFM company wide)

This asset management company plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (CO2e) emissions by reducing their emissions. Calculations and scope vary.

In-house carbon / GHG reduction policy (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that are working to reduce their own (fund management company) carbon/greenhouse gas emissions.

Working towards a ‘Net Zero’ commitment (AFM company wide)

Finds organisations / fund management companies that are in the process of working out how to make a ‘net zero commitment’ - meaning that when that is finalised they will have started the process of reducing their total greenhouse gas emissions to'zero'.

Transparency
Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide)

Find fund management companies that publish a report detailing their responsible investment ownership - also known as 'Stewardship' - activity.

Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information on company website

Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.

Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information available on request

Find fund management companies that will supply information about their sustainable and responsible investment activity on request.

Publish full voting record (AFM company wide)

Fund management companies that publish a full record of how they vote their shares at AGMs (annual general meetings) and EGMs (extraordinary general meetings). Voting strategies have an important role to play encouraging higher environmental, social and governance standards.

Sustainability transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they are to become a sustainable business - without significant negative environmental or social impacts.

Paris Alignment plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they will align to the climate change commitments made at the Paris Climate Talks, COP21.

Net Zero transition plan publicly available (AFM company wide)

This asset management company has published a plan that explains how they are going to achieve net zero greenhouse gas / CO2e emissions.

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

The FIF Sustainable European Equity Fund is a high-conviction ESG fund with a focus on long-term sustainable financial and non-financial returns by investing primarily in ESG leaders in Europe (excluding the UK).

The fund is managed by Lead Portfolio Manager Vincent Durel and Assistant Portfolio Manager Aela Cozic. Vincent and Aela use bottom-up analysis to select companies in terms of quality, growth and returns and ESG analysis at stock and sector levels, to select companies having best practices, sustainable development, high ESG scores and low controversy risks. It is a research-driven approach involving fundamental research, leveraging on Fidelity’s proprietary research and additional market data.

Impact and sustainable investment approach

At Fidelity, we believe that sustainable investment makes good business sense and helps to protect and enhance investment returns. Consequently, the fund’s investment process takes ESG factors into account as these can have a material impact on investment performance. ESG integration occurs across all sectors and markets in which Vincent and Aela invest.

The fund aims to achieve long-term capital growth by investing principally in the equity securities of companies which either have their head office in or are quoted on stock exchanges within Europe (excluding the UK).

Along with providing long-term capital appreciation, the fund also aims at delivering sustainable positive societal impacts. More specifically, the aim of this fund, built from a 'best ESG investment universe', is to promote companies having the best practices in terms of sustainability, both in terms of financial and non-financial metrics. This converging approach allows the fund to invest in companies achieving measurable, sustainable and positive financial, social and environmental impacts.

Vincent and Aela believe strongly in active ownership and engagement with all companies held within the fund, to influence positive change and agree on milestones and timelines to do so. The engagement process helps Vincent and Aela to achieve holistic, corporate insights which influence investment analysis and the proxy voting process, along with helping companies to adopt better strategies.

The fund is subject to a firm-wide exclusion list, which includes, but is not limited to, companies involved in the production and/or distribution of cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines. Besides our firm-wide Exclusion Policy, norms-based screening is performed and includes issuers which Vincent and Aela consider having failed to conduct their business in accordance with accepted international norms, including as set out in the United Nations Global Compact. Sector exclusions include defence and weapons (such as cluster munitions, landmines, semi-automatic firearms and controversial weapons), adult entertainment, gambling, tobacco, nuclear power plant generation and operations, uranium mining, coal mining, fracking, fossil fuel extraction and oil sands.

The fund will aim to have a lower carbon footprint compared to that of the broader market, by excluding companies with high carbon intensity (typically greater than 400 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) / US$1 million sales, Scope 1 and 2). Furthermore, the fund will assess its underlying holdings for attainment of relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through the investment management process, Vincent and Aela aim to ensure that investee companies follow good governance practices.

The fund is part of the Fidelity Sustainable Family of Funds and adopts a sustainable focused strategy under which a minimum of 70% of the fund’s net assets will be invested in securities deemed to maintain sustainable characteristics (as described in the section entitled ‘Fidelity Sustainable Family of Funds’ in the prospectus). Sustainable characteristics are defined by reference to a combination of different measurements such as ESG ratings provided by external agencies or Fidelity Sustainability Ratings.

A maximum of 30% of the fund’s net assets are allowed in issuers that are not deemed to maintain sustainable characteristics in accordance with the criteria above, but which demonstrate improving sustainable indicators.

Process:

Investment process

The investment process of the fund can be broken down into four separate stages:

  • Defining a best ESG investment universe.
  • Stock research and selection.
  • Portfolio construction (well defined buy and sell discipline) and risk control.
  • Engagement with all companies in the portfolio through an active ownership framework.

Best ESG investment universe

The best ESG investment universe only comprises of sustainable leaders with strong ESG credentials and low carbon footprints. This elimination leads to approximately 20–25%* exclusion from the investment universe:

  • Exclusion of stocks with low ESG ratings (lower than BBB MSCI ESG Ratings).
  • Exclusion of companies with high carbon intensity (typically greater than 500 tonnes of CO2 / US$1 million sales, Scope ‘1’ and ‘2’).
  • Exclusion of fossil fuel extraction.
  • Norms-based exclusions: United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) violations.
  • Sector exclusions*: Controversial weapons, tobacco, civilian firearms, gambling, adult entertainment, uranium mining, nuclear power plant operators or producers of key nuclear-specific products, nuclear power industry, coal mining, oil sands, fracking, coal fired power generation.
  • Firm exclusions: cluster munition, anti-personal landmines.

*Source: Fidelity International, as at 31 March 2023. Exclusions are based on a 5% revenue threshold and are applied at issuer level.

Stock research and selection

The fundamental analysis process involves both financial and ESG analysis. Vincent and Aela use bottom-up analysis to select companies in terms of quality, growth and returns (four pillars listed in picture below) and an ESG analysis at stock (three pillars) and sector (typically 80 Key ESG issues) levels to select companies having best practises, sustainable development, high ESG scores and low controversy risks.

This converging approach allows Vincent and Aela to select a portfolio with strong sustainable characteristics, achieving measurable, positive, and sustainable impacts that contribute to specific investable Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, all positive impacts generated by the fund are the results of the stock selection process.

Portfolio construction and risk management

Final selection and position sizing are based on conviction level, liquidity, concentration risk, market timing and other supportive catalysts and events. The final portfolio is comprised of typically 35–50 stocks, with highest conviction names making up for larger positions.

Vincent’s risk-management process has multiple lines of defence:

  • Absolute risk – focus on quality companies, balance sheet strength and liquidity.
  • Relative risk – awareness of overall cumulative active positions within the fund and correlations within the portfolio.
  • Currency risk – monitored to ensure understanding of sources of currency risk.
  • ESG risk – assess and monitor ESG-related risk.
  • Portfolio management monitoring – ongoing monitoring of risk exposures, sector weights.
  • Oversight – investment risk, Quarterly Fund Review (QFR) and Quarterly Sustainability Review (QSR) process.

ESG engagement and active ownership

An active ownership framework and engagement with all companies held within the fund is conducted to influence change and agree on milestones and timelines. This enables Vincent and Aela to gain enhanced, holistic, corporate insights which influence investment analysis and the proxy voting process. The main aspects of engagement are as follows:

  • Clear goals and process.
  • Strong potential to positively influence companies.
  • Proxy voting – effective tool to engage with firms if used efficiently.
  • Management dialogue – direct dialogue with company’s management team and board of directors.
  • Collaboration between analyst, ESG specialists and portfolio managers.

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:

Fidelity has been committed to sustainability for over a decade. Having launched our Principles of Ownership in 2003 and as a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment since 2012, sustainable investing has been, and remains, a key priority. We have an extensive global research network of fundamental research analysts with broad bottom-up asset class coverage who works closely with our global sustainability team. 

As an investment manager, we have a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of our clients. As such we have developed our approach to sustainable investing, comprising three key components (integration, stewardship, and solutions), as articulated in our Sustainable Investing Principles.  This approach aims to provide our clients with investment solutions that meet their financial and non-financial objectives, and to comply with rapidly evolving sustainability regulations for product labelling and disclosure. 

Proprietary ratings and tools sit at the heart of Fidelity’s sustainable investing approach, facilitating the integration of sustainability in our fundamental research and ensuring a consistent approach. These tools include:

 ESG Ratings: an assessment of management and mitigation of ESG risks.

Our ESG Ratings aim to provide a forward-looking assessment of an issuer’s sustainability characteristics, with emphasis on how it operates and the associated negative impact and risks.

Four key principles underpin our ESG Ratings:

  • Consideration of both non-financial and financial impacts ('double materiality'). A focus on absolute impacts allows comparison across sectors and geographies.
  • Providing a forward-looking perspective that is complementary to our financial forecasts, helping to inform the long-term prospects of an individual issuer. 
  • Consideration of material impact across more than 100 individual subsectors for a more focused and relevant set of indicators.
  • Flexible output for different use cases. Individual E, S, and G scores provide guidance for determining an overall ESG score at the issuer level and trajectory ratings.

Note: Third party ESG ratings may apply when a Fidelity ESG rating is not available. The prioritisation between third party ESG ratings and Fidelity ESG ratings may vary across products, please refer to the prospectus for more information.

 Climate Ratings: alignment to the outcome of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Our Climate Ratings assess an issuer’s operational alignment to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, providing a holistic view of climate-related risks and opportunities. We look at three key areas:

  • Carbon emissions disclosure: Disclosure of Scope 1, Scope 2 and material Scope 3 emissions.
  • Emissions reduction targets: Concentrates on current emissions, net zero GHG emissions ambitions, targets and carbon reduction targets.
  • Climate governance: Analyses executive remuneration plans linked to climate ambitions, as well as governance responsibilities and oversight.

 SDG Tool: an assessment of positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Our SDG Tool provides an insight into an issuer’s positive contribution to environmental and social outcomes. Here, we focus on products and services (what an entity does), rather than operational alignment (how an entity operates).

It is intended to complement our ESG Ratings, which assess the management of adverse impacts arising from ESG issues.

SDG Tool primary use cases:

  • Issuer and entity-level assessment - analyses the percentage of revenue that contributes to each SDG. This can be used as the input to help define a thematic investment universe.
  • Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) - under SFDR, there is a requirement to identify issuers that make a positive contribution to an environmental or social outcome and can qualify as ’sustainable investments‘. 
  • Reporting - provides the ability to report the contribution of a fund’s investments to the SDGs to our clients on a consistent and scalable basis.

 Quarterly Sustainability Reviews: an internal forum to review relevant quantitative and qualitative metrics and discuss sustainability integration in specific strategies.

Our integration tools and processes also support the prioritisation of stewardship activities and the development of solutions that meet different regulatory requirements and client objectives.

Furthermore, we promote active ownership as the steward of our clients’ assets, supporting real world sustainability outcomes that help us to fulfil our fiduciary duty. Effective and outcomes-focused stewardship combines bottom-up corporate engagement, top-down thematic engagement, and system-wide stewardship. This approach is essential to drive change and encourages regular engagement and dialogue which we believe is more efficient than exclusions because this simply diverts the problem elsewhere. We believe that monitoring the progress of engagements is as important as initiating them to assess change over time. The outcomes (or lack of outcomes) resulting from our engagements can be reflected by investment analysts in our ESG ratings and used to inform investment decisions. Our Voting Principles and Guidelines sets out our minimum expectations for our investee companies in key areas including climate change, deforestation, and gender diversity. 

 

Sustainability Team

As an active bottom-up research house, we have always looked beyond financial reporting to gauge the value of an investment. This involves maintaining ongoing dialogue with investee companies, staying vigilant to the evolving regulatory landscape, and monitoring other factors that could influence sustainable cash flows over our investment horizon, including those currently categorised as ESG. We began formally integrating ESG considerations into our investment and research processes since becoming a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment in October 2012. 

As a logical consequence of our focus on sustainability, we established our Sustainability Team over a decade ago. Initially a small group based in London, the team has now grown to include 30* professionals with the global presence spanning London, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Melbourne. Members of our Sustainability Team bring a diverse skill set, including expertise in research, climate science, and governance, with many boasting over a decade of experience.

The significant expansion of our team - nearly half of whom joined in 2021 or later - underscores the growing importance of sustainability within the financial services sector. This increase in team size, knowledge, and skillset has also allowed us to organise the team based on specialisation. Broadly, the team is divided into specialists focused on:

  • Stewardship and research
  • Strategy, product, and governance
  • Client engagement

Within these broad areas, sustainable investing specialists focus on key themes such as climate, diversity, deforestation and circular economy among others.

*Source: Fidelity International, as at 31 March 2025. Excludes China AMC resources. 

Industry collaboration

Fidelity recognises the importance of networks and information platforms for sharing tools and pooling resources, using investor reporting as a source of learning. Our Sustainability Team keeps its current and potential membership of investor organisations under constant review. We monitor all international treaties, supranational organisations and other sustainability memberships to ensure we are up to date with market trends and to stay involved in the debate (listed per category):

Gender Diversity:

  • 30% Club Australia (2021)
  • 30% Club Hong Kong (2022)
  • 30% Club Japan (2019)
  • 30% Club Investors Group (2019)
  • 40:40 Vision (2020)
  • Bright Network Women in Leadership
  • Lord Mayor's Appeal - We Can Be
  • Women in Finance Charter (2017)
  • Women on Boards (2018)

Social Inclusion and Diversity:

  • #10000 Black Interns (2020)
  • BBBA Talent Accelerator (2020)
  • Black North Initiative
  • Black Young Professionals
  • Catalyst After School Programme
  • Disability:IN (2022)
  • Diversity Project
  • LGBT Great (2019)
  • Lord Mayor's Appeal (2019)
  • Minority Supplier Development UK (2020)
  • OutBritain (2022)
  • President’s Challenge Enabling Employment Pledge and Enabling Mark (2023)
  • Race at Work Charter
  • Social Enterprise UK (2021)
  • Social Mobility Foundation (2021)
  • Stonewall (2016)
  • Trans in the City (2021)
  • Valuable 500 (2019)
  • Veteran Owned UK (2021)
  • WeConnect International (2021)

Climate Change:

  • Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (2020)
  • CDP - formerly Carbon Disclosure Project (2019)
  • Climate Bonds Initiative (2019)
  • Climate Investment Summit (2022)
  • Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment
  • Global Standard on Responsible Corporate Climate Lobbying (2022)
  • Green Finance Industry Taskforce Singapore (2020)
  • Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (2021)
  • Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (2020)
  • Investor Agenda (2021)
  • Investor Group on Climate Change (2021)
  • Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative (2020)
  • One Planet Asset Manager Initiative (2021)
  • Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (2022)
  • Point Zero Carbon Programme (2022)
  • Powering Past Coal Alliance (2021)
  • Transition Pathway Initiative (2021)
  • UN Climate Change Conference (2021)

Responsible Investment and Finance:

  • Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2015)
  • Asia Research & Engagement (2023)
  • European Sustainable Investment Forum (2017)
  • European Public Real Estate Association (2023)
  • Hong Kong Green Finance Association (2020)
  • International Regulatory Strategy Group
  • Investment Association (2010)
  • Investor Forum - UK (2014)
  • Principles for Responsible Investing (2012)
  • The Purposeful Company Task Force
  • Responsible Investment Association Australasia (2021)
  • Sustainable Trading (2005)
  • UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (2010)
  • World Benchmarking Alliance (2020)

Governance and Corporate Accountability:

  • Asian Corporate Governance Association (2004)
  • Assogestioni (2007)
  • Corporate Governance Forum (2009)
  • Hong Kong Principles of Responsible Ownership (2017)
  • International Corporate Governance Network (2005)
  • Japanese Stewardship Code (2014)
  • Taiwan Stock Exchange’s Stewardship Principles for Institutional Investors (2016)
  • UK Stewardship Code (2010)

Biodiversity:

  • Finance for Biodiversity (2021)
  • Finance for Biodiversity Pledge (2021)
  • Green Praxis Biodiversity (2022)
  • Natural Capital Investment Alliance (2021)
  • Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Forum (2021)
  • The Finance Sector Deforestation Action Initiative (2023)

Other Initiatives and Collaborations:

  • Council for Sustainable Business
  • Edinburgh Airport Sustainability Pledge
  • Environment management system standard ISO 14001 (2023)
  • Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (2020)
  • Inspiring More Sustainability (2019)
  • Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia-Pacific (2020)
  • Maastricht University & GRESB (2021)
  • Mental Health First Aid Training (2017)
  • WEF Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics (2019)
  • WorkWell Leaders (2023)

Fund Holdings

Voting Record

Disclaimer

This information must not be reproduced or circulated without prior permission.

This information does not constitute investment advice unless specifically agreed in a formal communication.

Fidelity International refers to the group of companies which form the global investment management organisation that provides information on products and services in designated jurisdictions outside of North America. Unless otherwise stated all products and services are provided by Fidelity International, and all views expressed are those of Fidelity International. Fidelity, Fidelity International, the Fidelity International logo and F symbol are registered trademarks of FIL Limited. FIL Limited assets and resources as at 31/03/2025 - data is unaudited.

Fidelity Investment Funds, Fidelity Investment Funds 2, Fidelity Investment Funds III, Fidelity Investment Funds IV and Fidelity Investment Funds IX are open-ended investment companies (OEICs) with variable capital, incorporated in England and Wales, being authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The Authorised Corporate Director of these OEICs is FIL Investment Services (UK) Limited.

Issued by FIL Pensions Management. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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