
Schroder International Selection Fund (ISF) Global Energy Transition Fund
SRI Style:
Environmental Style
SDR Labelling:
Not eligible to use label
Product:
SICAV/Offshore
Fund Region:
Global
Fund Asset Type:
Equity
Launch Date:
10/07/2019
Last Amended:
Oct 2024
Dialshifter (
):
Fund Size:
£925.90m
(as at: 30/06/2024)
Total Screened Themed SRI Assets:
£72500.00m
(as at: 31/03/2024)
Total Responsible Ownership Assets:
£647000.00m
(as at: 31/03/2024)
Total Assets Under Management:
£760400.00m
(as at: 31/03/2024)
ISIN:
LU2016063229, LU2191242952
Objectives:
The Fund aims to provide capital growth by investing in equity and equity related securities of companies worldwide that the Investment Manager believes are associated with the global transition towards lower-carbon sources of energy and which the Investment Manager deems to be sustainable investments. Please refer to the latest prospectus for further details: https://api.schroders.com/document-store/SISF-Prospectus-LUEN.pdf
Sustainable, Responsible
&/or ESG Overview:
The fund will aim to provide investors with a focused thematic exposure to the best performing companies involved in new clean energy systems, as the world transitions to lower-carbon energy. It will target emerging technologies and strategic industries integral to the global shift to cleaner energy, seeking opportunities across key value chains, including renewable energy, energy storage and electric vehicles. It will also selectively offer exposure to the underlying materials and technologies required for the transformation to take place. The fund will not invest in companies principally involved in fossil fuels or nuclear energy.
Crucially, the focus will be kept on the energy system and the associated technologies needed to enable its change. This means the fund will only invest in companies involved in the production and distribution of clean energy, the management of energy consumption, or the production of materials and technologies required to facilitate these activities.
Primary fund last amended:
Oct 2024
Information directly from fund manager.
Fund Filters
Sustainability - General
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.
Find funds which substantially focus on sustainability issues
Find funds where there is a significant emphasis on (environmental and social) sustainability. Funds with a 'sustainability theme' typically place more emphasis on the area than funds with a 'sustainability policy' - meaning that it is more likely to drive investment selection. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
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/
The delivery of the shift to a sustainable future is a core feature of this fund and its investment strategy. See eg https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/
Find funds that publicly report their performance against specifically named sustainability objectives (in addition to reporting their financial performance)
Environmental - General
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.
Find funds that have a policy or theme that relates to managing natural resources more efficiently. Funds with this policy will be likely to favour companies that make (or enable the) more efficient use of resources - and either avoid or encourage change amongst companies with lower standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Funds that aim to invest in companies with strong or market leading environmental policies and practices. Strategies vary - in particular the balance between 'financial' aspects and environmental benefits. Some may invest substantially in solutions or 'positive impact' companies - others may invest in more conventional companies providing certain environmental criteria are met. See fund information for further detail.
Climate Change & Energy
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.
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.
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.
Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.
Find funds where investment in clean / renewable energy companies an other assets is central to their investment selection strategy. The proportion of the fund that is directly or indirectly invested in renewable energy varies between funds and over time. See fund information for further details.
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage the transition to lower carbon activities through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement / voting activity
Funds that hold companies in the clean energy and renewable energy sectors (at the time research was supplied). Fund strategies vary, in particular the proportion of investment in these areas may vary significantly. Check fund literature for details.
Find funds that have policies which say they avoid or limit their investment in the nuclear industry. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
The fund manager excludes companies with direct involvement in fossil fuel exploration (eg coal, oil and gas companies)
Social / Employment
All mining companies excluded
Ethical Values Led Exclusions
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.
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.
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.
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information.
Human Rights
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.
Gilts & Sovereigns
Find funds that do not invest in / exclude 'sovereigns' - debt issued by governments. See eg https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sovereign-debt.asp
Banking & Financials
Find funds that explicitly avoid investing in insurance companies, typically because of the organisations they insure. See fund literature for more information as strategies vary.
Find funds that avoid investing in insurance companies that insure major fossil fuels companies – particularly coal, oil and gas. Strategies (eg definition of ‘major’) vary. See fund literature for further information.
Governance & Management
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.
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.
Exclude companies that are subject to United Nations sanctions. See eg https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list
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.
Fund managers encourage the companies they invest in to have more diverse board structures (e.g. more women on boards)
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity
Fund Governance
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
Find a fund that invests in a combination of small, medium and larger (potentially multinational)companies.
Targeted Positive Investments
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.
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.
Impact Methodologies
Funds that aim to measure the positive real world environmental and / or social benefits that are associated with their investment strategy. Funds that aim to deliver positive impacts and measure those impacts may be referred to as 'impact funds' - although impact measurement is not restricted to impact funds. Strategies vary. See fund information.
Find funds that specifically set out to help deliver positive environmental impacts, benefits or 'real world' outcomes.
Find funds that direct investment towards companies where a major part of their business is about solving environmental challenges. e.g. companies helping to address climate change.
Fund aims to deliver positive environmental and or social impacts (real world benefits) through its engagement with investee assets
How The Fund Works
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.
Single resource themed funds focus their investment strategy on a single natural 'resource' eg water. See fund information for further detail.
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.
Find funds that have 'mapped' (reviewed) their investment selection and management strategies to identify which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the fund is helping to address.
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.
Find funds that consider both the 'positive' and 'negative' aspects of company behaviour and make balanced, considered decisions as part of their investment approach. May apply to a range of different issues and policy areas.
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).
This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes.
Intended Clients & Product Options
Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.
Find funds that are available via a tax efficient ISA product wrapper.
Labels & Accreditations
Finds funds classified under Article 9 of the EU’s SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Requirements). Article 9 of the SFDR applies to financial products that have sustainable investment 'objectives' - including emissions reduction objectives. (These may currently be referred to as 'impact' funds or aiming to deliver clear, specific positive outcomes.) These rules do not currently apply in the UK so fund managers may leave this field blank.
Fund Management Company Information
About The Business
Find fund management companies (or subsidiaries) that specialise in - or focus entirely on - investing in assets that are helping to deliver positive environmental and / or social impacts.
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.
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.
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.)
Find fund managers that consider responsible ownership and ESG to be a key differentiator for their business.
Find fund management companies that take sustainability criteria into account when selecting and/or managing all of their property / real estate investments.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
Asset management company has investments in bonds designed to meet sustainability requirements - however these assets may not be 'ringfenced' for this purpose. See fund manager website for details.
Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)
Fund management entity offers unstructured intermediary training on sustainable investment (ie for financial advisers and wealth managers)
Collaborations & Affiliations
Find fund management companies that have signed up to the UN backed 'Principles of Responsible Investment'.
Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association
Resources
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.
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.
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.
Accreditations
Finds organisations / fund managers that have an A+ PRI rating - meaning they are highly rated according to the 'Principles of Responsible Investment'
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
Fund manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that is focused on addressing climate change with investee assets.
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.
Asset manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy with involves encouraging investee asset to reduce plastic waste and pollution.
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.
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
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/
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
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)
Asset management company has a stewardship strategy in place which involves working to raise diversity, equality and inclusion standards across investee assets
working with the assets they hold to help stamp out modern slavery - where direct or indirect company employees are exploited for business benefits.
Fund managers have stewardship strategies in place that focus on improving governance standards across investee assets
Asset manager has stewardship strategy in place which involves discussing mental health issues with investee companies - with the aim of raising standards
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
Company Wide Exclusions
Find fund management companies (not funds) that avoid investment in 'controversial weapons' across all of their funds and other investment vehicles.
Find funds / fund managers that are reviewing, or have reviewed, their exposure to carbon intensive industries including (but not only) mining, oil and gas companies. (Typically with reference to climate change.)
Climate & Net Zero Transition
Fund management organisations that have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net zero’. Strategies vary - this area is changing rapidly.
Find fund management companies that have published a Climate Risk policy or statement that is signed / owned by their Chief Executive.
Find fund management companies that are working with the companies they invest in to encourage reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Finds organisations / fund managers that have published ‘forward looking climate metrics’ e.g. 'implied temperature rise' data that are a total of the asset management company's share (% owned) of all the investee company emissions of the assets they manage, as well as their own direct and other indirect emissions.
Find fund management companies that are working to reduce their own (fund management company) carbon/greenhouse gas emissions.
See https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
Transparency
Find fund management companies that publish a report detailing their responsible investment ownership - also known as 'Stewardship' - activity.
Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.
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.
Find fund management companies that have supplied Dialshifter information. See Dialshifter tab within record for more information.
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:
Schroder ISF Global Energy Transition has the principal goal of finding companies within the energy transition universe that, at reasonable value, have the potential to deliver long-term structural real earnings and cash flow growth. The team believe that companies operating in more sustainable industries, with more sustainable business practices have the greatest ability to deliver real earnings and cash flow growth over the long-run.
Sustainability is a cornerstone of the Schroder ISF Global Energy Transition investment process, with ESG incorporated at each stage of this process, including: (1) universe creation, (2) idea generation, and (3) portfolio construction and reporting. Therefore, we do not think about ESG as a separate investment discipline, but rather as an integral component to the way in which we evaluate and appraise every stock that is under consideration for the fund. It is a core component of our modelling and analysis and is central to the investment decisions we make.
We believe that ESG factors have a material bearing on both the alpha potential of a stock and the risks associated with owning the stock. Our analysis seeks to understand the strength of a company’s ability to operate and pressures that could be exerted on the company which might affect future returns and we look to incorporate these risks and opportunities into our financial models and investment decisions.
Process:
In order to assess and compare the sustainability of companies in the investment universe, each company is classified as one of three things:
- ‘Lagging’: Companies that show poor corporate governance, unconvincing management, weak balance sheets, poor stakeholder relations, and fail to demonstrate an awareness of ESG issues they face.
- ‘Neutral’: Companies that show adequate corporate governance, suitable management, reasonably robust balance sheets, have reasonable relationships with stakeholders and some awareness of ESG issues. These companies do not exhibit ESG risks necessarily, but at the same time are not best in class companies withthe potential to maintain market leading growth.
- ‘Best-in-class’: Companies that have strong corporate governance, quality management, strong balance sheets, great relationships with stakeholders and a good awareness and management of ESG issues. These companies will be able to attract the best employees, to continue to lead the industry in terms of productivity, have strong supply chain links, acting as the ‘supplier of choice’ for customers, and are mindful of their environmental impact.
To determine the classification for each company, each company is assessed along a set of eight sustainability and ESG criteria. These eight categories reflect the four core underlying characteristics the team believe that companies with sustainable businesses should exhibit, that is: (1) whether the company is proactively managing specific ESG and stakeholder concerns related to its human capital, supply chain, customer base and environmental footprint; (2)whether management is competent and disciplined with respect to capital deployment; (3) whether corporate governance is robust and minority shareholders are protected; and (4) whether the balance sheet is being managed appropriately and strategically to enhance the durability and potential of the business.
The assessment determines the overall sustainability of a company’s business model. Two categories consider traditional measures of financial durability (management quality and balance sheet). The other six categories consider specific ESG risks and opportunities faced by each company (corporate governance, environment, employees, customers, suppliers and regulators). These two areas are distinct issues, but very much interrelated, and we want to reflect both in the assessment to ensure we are investing in the most sustainable companies.
The scoring for these categories is weighted to provide a balanced view of the company and where more or less granularity is required. These weights are standardised for all companies to allow for comparison across sectors. The quality of management is scored out of 2 given the fundamental importance of management in managing a business and ensuring it generates investment returns consistently over time, and the need to have granularity on this issue. Balance sheet sustainability is given a score out of 2. This weighting is set as such because ultimately the durability of a company in terms of its ability to operate over time will depend on how secure its balance sheet is, and also how flexible it is in terms of its potential to deploy capital to manage stakeholder and industry risks and opportunities.
Finally, the six categories that focus on awareness and management of specific ESG concerns across key stakeholder groups are each given a score of 1, depending on whether the company is effectively managing ESG issues for that stakeholder group. The categories used reflect the stakeholder approach promoted by the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team, allowing easier collaboration and information exchange. It has also been designed to integrate effectively with the CONTEXT tool designed by the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team (the team will look touse the underlying data and metrics in CONTEXT to inform the score they assign to companies). The overall score attributed to specific ESG and stakeholder concerns is therefore out of 6, giving it the highest weighting in this assessment. This high score reflects the importance of integrating ESG concerns into this overall sustainability assessment and means that no company can be considered ‘best-in-class’ without managing ESG issues.
The sum of these categories creates a total ‘sustainability score’ out of 10. Companies with high sustainability scores (7+) are classified as best in class, companies with medium sustainability scores (4-6) are classed as ‘neutral’, and companies with low sustainability scores (0-3) are classed as ‘lagging’.
Importantly, the assessment of each company’s business model combines company-specific characteristics and macro trends. Those companies exposed to greater sustainability risks and opportunities at a macro scale, are expected to be doing more at a company level to appropriately manage and exploit these issues. In specific cases where certain sub-sectors appear structurally weak over the long-term, this too will be reflected, with companies in these sub-sectors needing to demonstrate how they are managing the long-term thematic macro issues. For example, company operating in an industry with particularly aggressive pricing pressure, as has historically beenseen in the renewable equipment market, will need to demonstrate how it is managing this business risk (e.g. through spending more on R&D or aiming to improve its attractiveness to high-quality employees to ensure it can out innovate and use technology quality to either charge a premium for their product or reduce costs).
We use a range of resources to analyse companies within this framework. Alongside our own detailed analysis of sustainability reports and company accounts, we look to collaborate with the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team (which consists of 21 dedicated sustainability analysts) and leverage the internal research and investment tools that team has produced, including the proprietary, data-driven CONTEXT tool, which provides a way to analyse a company’s relationship with its stakeholders and the sustainability of its business model. Equally important are meetings and engagements with company management. Active engagement is a core part of the investment process and we continuously closely engage with both our holdings and prospective investments. On average we try to meet or speak with company management once every six months. The initial sustainability assessment is an important input to the engagement process and informs the questions asked of management and the areas where the team would like to see improvement.
There is a direct bias towards ‘best-in-class’ companies in the portfolio construction process. Since inception, the fund has not invested in any ‘lagging’ companies. The ultimate aim of the fund is to maximise returns for shareholders over the long-term, and the team believe that investing in companies with ‘best-in-class’ characteristics will be best-placed to deliver sustained earnings and cash flow growth over time, and ultimately the greatest shareholder returns.
In certain cases where the team feel the upside return potential from ‘lagging’ companies is still hugely attractive, despite the higher discount rate and lower estimated long-term growth rate applied to the models, the team will seek to engage with the company to encourage improvement in their business practices and get assurance that this improvement will take place. Where the team are confident that there is a clear path to improved practices the team will be able to invest in ‘lagging companies’. Where investments in lagging companies are made, practices willbe carefully monitored to ensure that improvement is being made. Where appropriate the team will undertake this engagement and monitoring in conjunction with the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment team. If no improvement is observed over an appropriate time period (six months to two years), the team will reconsider the investment position.
Before any investment in a ‘lagging’ company is made, a discussion will be had with the Sustainable Investment Team to ensure the robustness of this process. A similar process is followed in instances where a company falls back into the lagging category.
Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:
Sustainable Investment Team
Sustainability is fundamental to our investment principles at Schroders, and we have an experienced and well-resourced Sustainable Investment team comprised of more than 45 individuals* as at 30 June 2024, who are embedded within our Investment function. We are a global team, spread across four regional hubs in London, Paris, Singapore and New York, aiming to ensure that sustainability is embedded through our global investment teams and client functions.
*Source Schroders.
The team is led by Andrew Howard, Global Head of Sustainable Investment who is also a member of our Group Management Committee. As team head, he oversees our approach to ESG integration, active ownership, our sustainability research and tools, and our reporting and product strategy.
Our central Sustainable Investment team sits alongside investment teams rather than operating in a silo, which facilitates regular dialogue with our analysts and portfolio managers.
It is organised into four pillars:
- Sustainable Investment Management, incorporating advisory and integration, models and data, climate and nature and sustainable research.
- Active Ownership, encompassing engagement and voting.
- Impact.
- Regional experts in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.
We outline their key responsibilities and areas of focus below.
1. Sustainable investment management
Our Advisory and Integration team acts as a central contact point and consultant for a range of stakeholders across the business. This includes advising investment teams on ESG integration best practice; compliance, risk and legal teams on ESG regulation; and working with our regional experts; across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, as outlined under pillar three.
Our Models and Data team is responsible for the maintenance and evolution of our suite of proprietary tools. They are also responsible for ESG data, ensuring we harness sustainability data effectively from both conventional and unconventional sources.
Our Strategy and Research team is responsible for undertaking sustainability research to: inform firmwide strategy and commitments; provide insights for investment teams to analyse sustainability-related risks and opportunities; and provide research-related and technical support for other stakeholders across the firm.
2. Active ownership
Our Engagement team partners with investors to have dialogue with the companies in which we invest, seeking to understand how prepared they are for a changing world and pushing them towards more sustainable practices. The team track the progress of these engagements and hold companies to account.
Our Corporate Governance team is responsible for voting in line with our Voting Policy and Principles.
3. Impact
Our Impact team is responsible for scaling our impact product offering in line with best-practice impact principles. The team works closely with investment desks and is responsible for developing and implementing our impact management and measurement framework, including impact assessment and monitoring at transaction and portfolio level, product development, impact strategy and impact reporting.
4. Regional Expertise
Our Regional Experts based in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America have a deep understanding of local market characteristics and nuances, and are responsible for staying abreast of sustainability-related developments. Our experts work with clients and internal teams to navigate and support clients’ ESG aspirations and challenges, utilising Schroders’ proprietary tools and research to develop investment solutions that meet their needs. They also engage with regulators and industry bodies to shape and support the global sustainable finance agenda. Our regional experts are a critical extension of the central team in London as the firm continues to evolve its global ESG strategy.
Governance of our ESG strategy and policies
We have a number of governance structures in place for decision-making and oversight of our approach to sustainable investment. The Board of Schroders plc (the Board) has collective responsibility for the management, direction and performance of the Group, and is accountable for our overall business strategy. The Group Chief Executive is responsible for proposing the strategy for the Group and for its implementation, supported by the Group’s senior management team and a number of Committees, some of which are noted below.
The Group Sustainability and Impact (GSI) Committee provides advice to the Group Chief Executive on sustainability and impact matters. The Committee considers, reviews and recommends the overall global sustainability and impact strategy, including key initiatives, new commitments and policies for approval. The
Global Head of Sustainable Investment and Global Head of Corporate Sustainability are members of the Committee and report to the Group Management Committee (GMC) and the Board.
The Sustainability Executive Committee (ExCo) develops and oversees the delivery of our Group-level sustainable investment management strategy. The ExCo also advises on the development of our sustainability and impact investment and product frameworks. The ExCo has senior representation from across the business including Investment, Client Group, Wealth Management, Schroders Capital and Corporate Sustainability.
The Sustainability Regulations Steering Committee (Sustainability Reg SteerCo) oversees the progress of in-flight sustainability regulatory change programmes, as well as monitoring emergent sustainability regulations and determining their high-level impact on our Group sustainability strategy and supporting operations. The Sustainability Reg SteerCo receives input on planned or potential sustainability-related regulation from our Public Policy team, which actively engages with relevant regulators, industry trade associations and other bodies in the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU). The Sustainability Reg Steerco has senior representation from across the business including Investment, Wealth Management, Schroders Capital, Legal, Risk & Compliance, Product and Operations Management.
Certain Schroders entities, businesses and Investment teams also have their own committees which consider their sustainable investment activities. For example, the Private Assets Sustainability and Impact Steering Committee (PA S&I SteerCo) develops and oversees the implementation of the Private Assets Sustainability and Impact strategy. In addition, the Wealth Management Sustainable Investment Committee (WMSIC), a sub-committee of the Wealth Management Investment Committee (WMIC), has delegated responsibility for recommending Wealth Management's Sustainability models, as well as providing investment strategy and direction for client portfolios that are linked to the sustainable models.
Alongside our central Sustainable Investment team, sustainable investing is also overseen and delivered by dedicated teams and expert individuals embedded throughout the firm (including across Investment teams and Client Group functions).
Industry involvement
We believe we have a particular role to play in sharing our expertise on different areas, supporting best practice but also learning from others.
We have a long-standing commitment to support and collaborate with several industry groups, organisations and initiatives to promote well-functioning financial markets. Our key stakeholders include exchanges, regulators and international and regional trade associations. For example, Schroders is a member of trade bodies such as the Investment Association in the UK, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) in Hong Kong and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in the US.
Through this participation we share our insights to support the development of policy recommendations, share best practice and build coalitions of like-minded market participants to advocate for better functioning markets. We consider this to be key in improving responsible investment standards across sectors, establishing a consistent dialogue with companies, and in promoting the ongoing development and recognition of sustainability and ESG within the investment industry. A list of organisations and initiatives of which Schroders is a member or signatory is available on our website
Dialshifter
This fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by…
The energy transition is a necessary shift towards a zero-carbon global energy system by 2050. Its primary goal is to reduce CO2 emissions, limit climate change, and address energy poverty while making the energy system more affordable, flexible, and secure. Companies actively contributing to this transition align with global sustainability goals and can generate long-term value for shareholders. To identify such companies, a proprietary screening tool and qualitative review process are used, ensuring they fit the fund's thematic and sustainability-focused investment criteria. This approach acknowledges the global significance of the energy transition and the potential for sustainable growth in companies involved in driving this transformation.
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by…
As a firm, we have made a number of climate and nature-related commitments to support achieving net zero by 2050, or sooner. We have committed our listed equity and corporate bond holdings, which equated to over 60% of assets under management, to become in line in with an implied temperature score of 1.5°C by 2040 (using the methodology developed by the CDP and WWF). Our target is for 100% of all assets under management to become aligned with our targets by 2050. Further information on our climate change strategy can be found here: Schroders Climate (TCFD) Report 2023
SDR Labelling: Not eligible to use label
Disclaimer
Risk Considerations – Schroder international Selection Fund* Global Energy Transition
The following risks may affect fund performance:
– Higher volatility risk: The price of this fund may be more volatile as it may take higher risks in search of higher rewards, meaning the price may go up and down to a greater extent.
– Performance risk: Investment objectives express an intended result but there is no guarantee that such a result will be achieved. Depending on market conditions and the macro-economic environment, investment objectives may become more difficult to achieve.
– Market risk: The value of investments can go up and down and an investor may not get back the amount initially invested.
– Currency risk: If the fund’s investments are denominated in currencies different to the fund’s base currency, the fund may lose value as a result of movements in foreign exchange rates, otherwise known as currency rates. If the investor holds a share class in a different currency to the base currency of the fund, investors may be exposed to losses as a result of movements in currency rates.
– Liquidity risk: In difficult market conditions, the fund may not be able to sell a security for full value or at all. This could affect performance and could cause the fund to defer or suspend redemptions of its shares, meaning investors may not be able to have immediate access to their holdings.
– Operational risk: Operational processes, including those related to the safekeeping of assets, may fail. This may result in losses to the fund.
– Concentration risk: The fund may be concentrated in a limited number of geographical regions, industry sectors, markets and/or individual positions. This may result in large changes in the value of the fund, both up or down.
– Sustainable Investing Risk: The fund applies sustainability criteria in its selection of investments. This investment focus may limit the fund's exposure to assets, companies, industries or sectors and the fund may forego investment opportunities that do not align with its sustainability criteria chosen by the investment manager. As investors may differ in their views of what constitutes sustainability, the fund may invest in companies that do not reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor.
– Derivatives risk: Derivatives, which are financial instruments deriving their value from an underlying asset, may be used to manage the portfolio efficiently. A derivative may not perform as expected, may create losses greater than the cost of the derivative and may result in losses to the fund.
*Schroder International Selection Fund is referred to as Schroder ISF throughout this document
Important Information
Marketing material for Professional Clients only.
This document does not constitute an offer to anyone, or a solicitation by anyone, to subscribe for shares of Schroder International Selection Fund (the “Company”). Nothing in this document should be construed as advice and is therefore not a recommendation to buy or sell shares. An investment in the Company entails risks, which are fully described in the prospectus.
For the UK, these documents may be obtained in English, free of charge, from the following link: www.eifs.lu/schroders.
Schroders may decide to cease the distribution of any fund(s) in any EEA country at any time, but we will publish our intention to do so on our website, in line with applicable regulatory requirements.
The fund has environmental and/or social characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on Sustainability-related Disclosures in the Financial Services Sector (the “SFDR”). For information on sustainability-related aspects of this fund please go to www.schroders.com.
For UK investors only: This product is based overseas and is not subject to UK sustainable investment labelling and disclosure requirements.
Any reference to regions/ countries/ sectors/ stocks/ securities is for illustrative purposes only and not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instruments or adopt a specific investment strategy.
The material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations.
Past Performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated.
The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested. Exchange rate changes may cause the value of investments to fall as well as rise.
Performance data does not take into account any commissions and costs, if any, charged when units or shares of any fund, as applicable, are issued and redeemed.
Schroders has expressed its own views and opinions in this document, and these may change.
Information herein is believed to be reliable, but Schroders does not warrant its completeness or accuracy.
No Schroders entity accepts any liability for any error or omission in this material or for any resulting loss or damage (whether direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise), in each case save to the extent such liability cannot be excluded under applicable laws.
The data contained in this document has been sourced by Schroders and should be independently verified. Third party data is owned or licenced by the data provider and may not be reproduced, extracted or used for any other purpose without the data provider’s consent. Neither Schroders, nor the data provider, will have any liability in connection with the third-party data.
This material has not been reviewed by any regulator.
Schroders will be a data controller in respect of your personal data. For information on how Schroders might process your personal data, please view our Privacy Policy available at https://www.schroders.com/en/global/individual/footer/privacy-statement/ or on request should you not have access to this webpage.
For your security, communications may be recorded or monitored.
Issued by Schroder Investment Management (Europe) S.A., 5, rue Höhenhof, L-1736 Senningerberg, Luxembourg. Registration No B 37.799.
Distributed in the UK by Schroder Investment Management Ltd, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Registration No 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Issued in August 2024. BDS006718.
Fund Name | SRI Style | SDR Labelling | Product | Region | Asset Type | Launch Date | Last Amended |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Schroder International Selection Fund (ISF) Global Energy Transition Fund |
Environmental Style | Not eligible to use label | SICAV/Offshore | Global | Equity | 10/07/2019 | Oct 2024 | |
ObjectivesThe Fund aims to provide capital growth by investing in equity and equity related securities of companies worldwide that the Investment Manager believes are associated with the global transition towards lower-carbon sources of energy and which the Investment Manager deems to be sustainable investments. Please refer to the latest prospectus for further details: https://api.schroders.com/document-store/SISF-Prospectus-LUEN.pdf |
Fund Size: £925.90m (as at: 30/06/2024) Total Screened Themed SRI Assets: £72500.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) Total Responsible Ownership Assets: £647000.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) Total Assets Under Management: £760400.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) ISIN: LU2016063229, LU2191242952 |
|||||||
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG OverviewThe fund will aim to provide investors with a focused thematic exposure to the best performing companies involved in new clean energy systems, as the world transitions to lower-carbon energy. It will target emerging technologies and strategic industries integral to the global shift to cleaner energy, seeking opportunities across key value chains, including renewable energy, energy storage and electric vehicles. It will also selectively offer exposure to the underlying materials and technologies required for the transformation to take place. The fund will not invest in companies principally involved in fossil fuels or nuclear energy. |
||||||||
Primary fund last amended: Oct 2024 |
||||||||
Information received directly from Fund Manager |
||||||||
Please select what you would like to read:
Fund FiltersSustainability - 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
Sustainability theme or focus
Find funds where there is a significant emphasis on (environmental and social) sustainability. Funds with a 'sustainability theme' typically place more emphasis on the area than funds with a 'sustainability policy' - meaning that it is more likely to drive investment selection. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
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/
Transition focus
The delivery of the shift to a sustainable future is a core feature of this fund and its investment strategy. See eg https://www.transitionpathwayinitiative.org/
Report against sustainability objectives
Find funds that publicly report their performance against specifically named sustainability objectives (in addition to reporting their financial performance) 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.
Resource efficiency policy or theme
Find funds that have a policy or theme that relates to managing natural resources more efficiently. Funds with this policy will be likely to favour companies that make (or enable the) more efficient use of resources - and either avoid or encourage change amongst companies with lower standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Favours cleaner, greener companies
Funds that aim to invest in companies with strong or market leading environmental policies and practices. Strategies vary - in particular the balance between 'financial' aspects and environmental benefits. Some may invest substantially in solutions or 'positive impact' companies - others may invest in more conventional companies providing certain environmental criteria are met. See fund information for further detail. 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.
Fossil fuel reserves exclusion
Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.
Clean / renewable energy theme or focus
Find funds where investment in clean / renewable energy companies an other assets is central to their investment selection strategy. The proportion of the fund that is directly or indirectly invested in renewable energy varies between funds and over time. 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
Invests in clean energy / renewables
Funds that hold companies in the clean energy and renewable energy sectors (at the time research was supplied). Fund strategies vary, in particular the proportion of investment in these areas may vary significantly. Check fund literature for details.
Nuclear exclusion policy
Find funds that have policies which say they avoid or limit their investment in the nuclear industry. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Fossil fuel exploration exclusion - direct involvement
The fund manager excludes companies with direct involvement in fossil fuel exploration (eg coal, oil and gas companies) Social / Employment
Mining exclusion
All mining companies excluded Ethical Values Led Exclusions
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.
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.
Gambling avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Pornography avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information. 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. Gilts & Sovereigns
Does not invest in sovereigns
Find funds that do not invest in / exclude 'sovereigns' - debt issued by governments. See eg https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sovereign-debt.asp Banking & Financials
Exclude all or most insurance companies
Find funds that explicitly avoid investing in insurance companies, typically because of the organisations they insure. See fund literature for more information as strategies vary.
Exclude insurers of major fossil fuel companies
Find funds that avoid investing in insurance companies that insure major fossil fuels companies – particularly coal, oil and gas. Strategies (eg definition of ‘major’) vary. See fund literature for further information. 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.
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 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
Invests in small, mid and large cap companies / assets
Find a fund that invests in a combination of small, medium and larger (potentially multinational)companies. 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. Impact Methodologies
Measures positive impacts
Funds that aim to measure the positive real world environmental and / or social benefits that are associated with their investment strategy. Funds that aim to deliver positive impacts and measure those impacts may be referred to as 'impact funds' - although impact measurement is not restricted to impact funds. Strategies vary. See fund information.
Positive environmental impact theme
Find funds that specifically set out to help deliver positive environmental impacts, benefits or 'real world' outcomes.
Invests in environmental solutions companies
Find funds that direct investment towards companies where a major part of their business is about solving environmental challenges. e.g. companies helping to address climate change.
Aim to deliver positive impacts through engagement
Fund aims to deliver positive environmental and or social impacts (real world benefits) through its engagement with investee assets 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.
Single resource theme or focus
Single resource themed funds focus their investment strategy on a single natural 'resource' eg water. See fund information for further detail.
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.
Assets mapped to SDGs
Find funds that have 'mapped' (reviewed) their investment selection and management strategies to identify which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the fund is helping to address.
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.
Balances company 'pros and cons' / best in sector
Find funds that consider both the 'positive' and 'negative' aspects of company behaviour and make balanced, considered decisions as part of their investment approach. May apply to a range of different issues and policy areas.
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).
Do not use stock / securities lending
This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes. 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.
Available via an ISA (OEIC only)
Find funds that are available via a tax efficient ISA product wrapper. Labels & Accreditations
SFDR Article 9 fund / product (EU)
Finds funds classified under Article 9 of the EU’s SFDR (Sustainable Finance Disclosure Requirements). Article 9 of the SFDR applies to financial products that have sustainable investment 'objectives' - including emissions reduction objectives. (These may currently be referred to as 'impact' funds or aiming to deliver clear, specific positive outcomes.) These rules do not currently apply in the UK so fund managers may leave this field blank. Fund Management Company InformationAbout The Business
Specialist positive impact fund management company
Find fund management companies (or subsidiaries) that specialise in - or focus entirely on - investing in assets that are helping to deliver positive environmental and / or social impacts.
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.
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).
Invests in new sustainability linked bond issuances (AFM company wide)
Asset management company has investments in bonds designed to meet sustainability requirements - however these assets may not be 'ringfenced' for this purpose. See fund manager website for details.
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 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. 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
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 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.
Review(ing) carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds (AFM company wide)
Find funds / fund managers that are reviewing, or have reviewed, their exposure to carbon intensive industries including (but not only) mining, oil and gas companies. (Typically with reference to climate change.) 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.
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.
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.
‘Forward Looking Climate Metrics’ published / ITR (AFM company wide)
Finds organisations / fund managers that have published ‘forward looking climate metrics’ e.g. 'implied temperature rise' data that are a total of the asset management company's share (% owned) of all the investee company emissions of the assets they manage, as well as their own direct and other indirect emissions.
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.
Committed to SBTi / Science Based Targets Initiative
See https://sciencebasedtargets.org/ 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.
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.
Dialshifter statement
Find fund management companies that have supplied Dialshifter information. See Dialshifter tab within record for more information. Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:Schroder ISF Global Energy Transition has the principal goal of finding companies within the energy transition universe that, at reasonable value, have the potential to deliver long-term structural real earnings and cash flow growth. The team believe that companies operating in more sustainable industries, with more sustainable business practices have the greatest ability to deliver real earnings and cash flow growth over the long-run.
Process:In order to assess and compare the sustainability of companies in the investment universe, each company is classified as one of three things:
To determine the classification for each company, each company is assessed along a set of eight sustainability and ESG criteria. These eight categories reflect the four core underlying characteristics the team believe that companies with sustainable businesses should exhibit, that is: (1) whether the company is proactively managing specific ESG and stakeholder concerns related to its human capital, supply chain, customer base and environmental footprint; (2)whether management is competent and disciplined with respect to capital deployment; (3) whether corporate governance is robust and minority shareholders are protected; and (4) whether the balance sheet is being managed appropriately and strategically to enhance the durability and potential of the business. The assessment determines the overall sustainability of a company’s business model. Two categories consider traditional measures of financial durability (management quality and balance sheet). The other six categories consider specific ESG risks and opportunities faced by each company (corporate governance, environment, employees, customers, suppliers and regulators). These two areas are distinct issues, but very much interrelated, and we want to reflect both in the assessment to ensure we are investing in the most sustainable companies. The scoring for these categories is weighted to provide a balanced view of the company and where more or less granularity is required. These weights are standardised for all companies to allow for comparison across sectors. The quality of management is scored out of 2 given the fundamental importance of management in managing a business and ensuring it generates investment returns consistently over time, and the need to have granularity on this issue. Balance sheet sustainability is given a score out of 2. This weighting is set as such because ultimately the durability of a company in terms of its ability to operate over time will depend on how secure its balance sheet is, and also how flexible it is in terms of its potential to deploy capital to manage stakeholder and industry risks and opportunities. Finally, the six categories that focus on awareness and management of specific ESG concerns across key stakeholder groups are each given a score of 1, depending on whether the company is effectively managing ESG issues for that stakeholder group. The categories used reflect the stakeholder approach promoted by the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team, allowing easier collaboration and information exchange. It has also been designed to integrate effectively with the CONTEXT tool designed by the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team (the team will look touse the underlying data and metrics in CONTEXT to inform the score they assign to companies). The overall score attributed to specific ESG and stakeholder concerns is therefore out of 6, giving it the highest weighting in this assessment. This high score reflects the importance of integrating ESG concerns into this overall sustainability assessment and means that no company can be considered ‘best-in-class’ without managing ESG issues. The sum of these categories creates a total ‘sustainability score’ out of 10. Companies with high sustainability scores (7+) are classified as best in class, companies with medium sustainability scores (4-6) are classed as ‘neutral’, and companies with low sustainability scores (0-3) are classed as ‘lagging’. Importantly, the assessment of each company’s business model combines company-specific characteristics and macro trends. Those companies exposed to greater sustainability risks and opportunities at a macro scale, are expected to be doing more at a company level to appropriately manage and exploit these issues. In specific cases where certain sub-sectors appear structurally weak over the long-term, this too will be reflected, with companies in these sub-sectors needing to demonstrate how they are managing the long-term thematic macro issues. For example, company operating in an industry with particularly aggressive pricing pressure, as has historically beenseen in the renewable equipment market, will need to demonstrate how it is managing this business risk (e.g. through spending more on R&D or aiming to improve its attractiveness to high-quality employees to ensure it can out innovate and use technology quality to either charge a premium for their product or reduce costs). We use a range of resources to analyse companies within this framework. Alongside our own detailed analysis of sustainability reports and company accounts, we look to collaborate with the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment Team (which consists of 21 dedicated sustainability analysts) and leverage the internal research and investment tools that team has produced, including the proprietary, data-driven CONTEXT tool, which provides a way to analyse a company’s relationship with its stakeholders and the sustainability of its business model. Equally important are meetings and engagements with company management. Active engagement is a core part of the investment process and we continuously closely engage with both our holdings and prospective investments. On average we try to meet or speak with company management once every six months. The initial sustainability assessment is an important input to the engagement process and informs the questions asked of management and the areas where the team would like to see improvement. There is a direct bias towards ‘best-in-class’ companies in the portfolio construction process. Since inception, the fund has not invested in any ‘lagging’ companies. The ultimate aim of the fund is to maximise returns for shareholders over the long-term, and the team believe that investing in companies with ‘best-in-class’ characteristics will be best-placed to deliver sustained earnings and cash flow growth over time, and ultimately the greatest shareholder returns. In certain cases where the team feel the upside return potential from ‘lagging’ companies is still hugely attractive, despite the higher discount rate and lower estimated long-term growth rate applied to the models, the team will seek to engage with the company to encourage improvement in their business practices and get assurance that this improvement will take place. Where the team are confident that there is a clear path to improved practices the team will be able to invest in ‘lagging companies’. Where investments in lagging companies are made, practices willbe carefully monitored to ensure that improvement is being made. Where appropriate the team will undertake this engagement and monitoring in conjunction with the Schroders’ Sustainable Investment team. If no improvement is observed over an appropriate time period (six months to two years), the team will reconsider the investment position. Before any investment in a ‘lagging’ company is made, a discussion will be had with the Sustainable Investment Team to ensure the robustness of this process. A similar process is followed in instances where a company falls back into the lagging category. Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:Sustainable Investment Team Sustainability is fundamental to our investment principles at Schroders, and we have an experienced and well-resourced Sustainable Investment team comprised of more than 45 individuals* as at 30 June 2024, who are embedded within our Investment function. We are a global team, spread across four regional hubs in London, Paris, Singapore and New York, aiming to ensure that sustainability is embedded through our global investment teams and client functions. *Source Schroders. The team is led by Andrew Howard, Global Head of Sustainable Investment who is also a member of our Group Management Committee. As team head, he oversees our approach to ESG integration, active ownership, our sustainability research and tools, and our reporting and product strategy. Our central Sustainable Investment team sits alongside investment teams rather than operating in a silo, which facilitates regular dialogue with our analysts and portfolio managers. It is organised into four pillars:
We outline their key responsibilities and areas of focus below. 1. Sustainable investment management Our Advisory and Integration team acts as a central contact point and consultant for a range of stakeholders across the business. This includes advising investment teams on ESG integration best practice; compliance, risk and legal teams on ESG regulation; and working with our regional experts; across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, as outlined under pillar three. Our Models and Data team is responsible for the maintenance and evolution of our suite of proprietary tools. They are also responsible for ESG data, ensuring we harness sustainability data effectively from both conventional and unconventional sources. Our Strategy and Research team is responsible for undertaking sustainability research to: inform firmwide strategy and commitments; provide insights for investment teams to analyse sustainability-related risks and opportunities; and provide research-related and technical support for other stakeholders across the firm.
Our Engagement team partners with investors to have dialogue with the companies in which we invest, seeking to understand how prepared they are for a changing world and pushing them towards more sustainable practices. The team track the progress of these engagements and hold companies to account. Our Corporate Governance team is responsible for voting in line with our Voting Policy and Principles.
Our Impact team is responsible for scaling our impact product offering in line with best-practice impact principles. The team works closely with investment desks and is responsible for developing and implementing our impact management and measurement framework, including impact assessment and monitoring at transaction and portfolio level, product development, impact strategy and impact reporting.
Our Regional Experts based in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America have a deep understanding of local market characteristics and nuances, and are responsible for staying abreast of sustainability-related developments. Our experts work with clients and internal teams to navigate and support clients’ ESG aspirations and challenges, utilising Schroders’ proprietary tools and research to develop investment solutions that meet their needs. They also engage with regulators and industry bodies to shape and support the global sustainable finance agenda. Our regional experts are a critical extension of the central team in London as the firm continues to evolve its global ESG strategy.
We have a number of governance structures in place for decision-making and oversight of our approach to sustainable investment. The Board of Schroders plc (the Board) has collective responsibility for the management, direction and performance of the Group, and is accountable for our overall business strategy. The Group Chief Executive is responsible for proposing the strategy for the Group and for its implementation, supported by the Group’s senior management team and a number of Committees, some of which are noted below. The Group Sustainability and Impact (GSI) Committee provides advice to the Group Chief Executive on sustainability and impact matters. The Committee considers, reviews and recommends the overall global sustainability and impact strategy, including key initiatives, new commitments and policies for approval. The The Sustainability Executive Committee (ExCo) develops and oversees the delivery of our Group-level sustainable investment management strategy. The ExCo also advises on the development of our sustainability and impact investment and product frameworks. The ExCo has senior representation from across the business including Investment, Client Group, Wealth Management, Schroders Capital and Corporate Sustainability. The Sustainability Regulations Steering Committee (Sustainability Reg SteerCo) oversees the progress of in-flight sustainability regulatory change programmes, as well as monitoring emergent sustainability regulations and determining their high-level impact on our Group sustainability strategy and supporting operations. The Sustainability Reg SteerCo receives input on planned or potential sustainability-related regulation from our Public Policy team, which actively engages with relevant regulators, industry trade associations and other bodies in the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU). The Sustainability Reg Steerco has senior representation from across the business including Investment, Wealth Management, Schroders Capital, Legal, Risk & Compliance, Product and Operations Management. Certain Schroders entities, businesses and Investment teams also have their own committees which consider their sustainable investment activities. For example, the Private Assets Sustainability and Impact Steering Committee (PA S&I SteerCo) develops and oversees the implementation of the Private Assets Sustainability and Impact strategy. In addition, the Wealth Management Sustainable Investment Committee (WMSIC), a sub-committee of the Wealth Management Investment Committee (WMIC), has delegated responsibility for recommending Wealth Management's Sustainability models, as well as providing investment strategy and direction for client portfolios that are linked to the sustainable models. Alongside our central Sustainable Investment team, sustainable investing is also overseen and delivered by dedicated teams and expert individuals embedded throughout the firm (including across Investment teams and Client Group functions).
Industry involvement We believe we have a particular role to play in sharing our expertise on different areas, supporting best practice but also learning from others. We have a long-standing commitment to support and collaborate with several industry groups, organisations and initiatives to promote well-functioning financial markets. Our key stakeholders include exchanges, regulators and international and regional trade associations. For example, Schroders is a member of trade bodies such as the Investment Association in the UK, the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) in Hong Kong and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) in the US. Through this participation we share our insights to support the development of policy recommendations, share best practice and build coalitions of like-minded market participants to advocate for better functioning markets. We consider this to be key in improving responsible investment standards across sectors, establishing a consistent dialogue with companies, and in promoting the ongoing development and recognition of sustainability and ESG within the investment industry. A list of organisations and initiatives of which Schroders is a member or signatory is available on our website DialshifterThis fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by… The energy transition is a necessary shift towards a zero-carbon global energy system by 2050. Its primary goal is to reduce CO2 emissions, limit climate change, and address energy poverty while making the energy system more affordable, flexible, and secure. Companies actively contributing to this transition align with global sustainability goals and can generate long-term value for shareholders. To identify such companies, a proprietary screening tool and qualitative review process are used, ensuring they fit the fund's thematic and sustainability-focused investment criteria. This approach acknowledges the global significance of the energy transition and the potential for sustainable growth in companies involved in driving this transformation.
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by… As a firm, we have made a number of climate and nature-related commitments to support achieving net zero by 2050, or sooner. We have committed our listed equity and corporate bond holdings, which equated to over 60% of assets under management, to become in line in with an implied temperature score of 1.5°C by 2040 (using the methodology developed by the CDP and WWF). Our target is for 100% of all assets under management to become aligned with our targets by 2050. Further information on our climate change strategy can be found here: Schroders Climate (TCFD) Report 2023 SDR Labelling: Not eligible to use label DisclaimerRisk Considerations – Schroder international Selection Fund* Global Energy Transition The following risks may affect fund performance: – Higher volatility risk: The price of this fund may be more volatile as it may take higher risks in search of higher rewards, meaning the price may go up and down to a greater extent. *Schroder International Selection Fund is referred to as Schroder ISF throughout this document
Important Information For the UK, these documents may be obtained in English, free of charge, from the following link: www.eifs.lu/schroders. Schroders may decide to cease the distribution of any fund(s) in any EEA country at any time, but we will publish our intention to do so on our website, in line with applicable regulatory requirements. The fund has environmental and/or social characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on Sustainability-related Disclosures in the Financial Services Sector (the “SFDR”). For information on sustainability-related aspects of this fund please go to www.schroders.com. For UK investors only: This product is based overseas and is not subject to UK sustainable investment labelling and disclosure requirements. Any reference to regions/ countries/ sectors/ stocks/ securities is for illustrative purposes only and not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial instruments or adopt a specific investment strategy. The material is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, accounting, legal or tax advice, or investment recommendations. Past Performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amounts originally invested. Exchange rate changes may cause the value of investments to fall as well as rise. Performance data does not take into account any commissions and costs, if any, charged when units or shares of any fund, as applicable, are issued and redeemed. Information herein is believed to be reliable, but Schroders does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. No Schroders entity accepts any liability for any error or omission in this material or for any resulting loss or damage (whether direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise), in each case save to the extent such liability cannot be excluded under applicable laws. The data contained in this document has been sourced by Schroders and should be independently verified. Third party data is owned or licenced by the data provider and may not be reproduced, extracted or used for any other purpose without the data provider’s consent. Neither Schroders, nor the data provider, will have any liability in connection with the third-party data. This material has not been reviewed by any regulator. Schroders will be a data controller in respect of your personal data. For information on how Schroders might process your personal data, please view our Privacy Policy available at https://www.schroders.com/en/global/individual/footer/privacy-statement/ or on request should you not have access to this webpage. Issued by Schroder Investment Management (Europe) S.A., 5, rue Höhenhof, L-1736 Senningerberg, Luxembourg. Registration No B 37.799. Distributed in the UK by Schroder Investment Management Ltd, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Registration No 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Issued in August 2024. BDS006718. |