We wanted to share an update with you from Australian Ethical, who are one of the managers within the AAN Sustainable Growth Model. What follows has been published without edit or modification from this post. This update includes links to several articles that have been written for investors.
We need systemic change across multiple industries to tackle the most difficult and important challenges of our time, such as climate change, the biodiversity crisis, human rights abuse, and industrialised animal cruelty.
Ethical Stewardship is one way we can directly have real world influence – leveraging the capital our members and investors have entrusted to us to influence investee companies, the economy and society. It is focused on reducing the negative and increasing the positive impacts of companies and achieving systemic change at an economy or society-wide scale. Our approach to engagement stems from our belief that as a long-term investor we have a unique and critical role. We are here to make money and a difference.
In FY22 our Ethics Research team engaged with over 450 companies to understand and influence their positive and negative impact, support shareholder resolutions and to vote for the changes we want to see.1 Read on to learn more about our engagement activities in the areas where we see the most need for change and opportunity to make a difference.
Turning off finance for fossil fuels
We do not invest in fossil fuel companies.2 But we leverage our investment in the finance sector to campaign against the unsustainable expansion of fossil fuels and encourage the financing of renewables.
Animal research
We expect companies involved in animal research to avoid and reduce animal suffering. We also believe that companies commissioning animal research can drive greater use of alternatives and better animal welfare practices.
Animal agriculture & deforestation
We do not invest in conventional animal agriculture because of its large environmental footprint and because of animals’ suffering. But we leverage our connections in adjacent industries to influence change.
Carbon sequestration & protecting wildlife
Australia is well placed to provide credible and secure carbon sequestration services the world needs. With appropriate policies and markets, we think our farmers and the communities they support could be direct beneficiaries.
As always, if you have any questions about your these blogs or your portfolio, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your adviser.
Regards
AAN Investment Committee
Blog sources: australianethical.com.au/why-ae/ethical-stewardship/ (1) This total includes lending our voice to support others’ initiatives, engaging with companies directly (on our own or with others) and filing and voting on shareholder resolutions. Represents FY22 activity only. (2) Our investment exclusions include some exceptions and tolerances. While we don’t invest in companies whose main business is fossil fuels we may, as an example, invest in a diversified company which earns some fossil fuel revenue but is having a positive impact in other ways such as producing renewable energy, providing its fossil fuel revenue is assessed by us as low (a maximum of between 5% and 33% depending on the activity), relative to its overall revenue. For more information on our ethical criteria including examples of revenue tolerances, visit australianethical.com.au/why-ae/ethics/ethical-criteria/
