Liontrust Sustainable Investment Annual Review 2022 - Flipbook - Page 36
2022 Initiative
Description
We said we would:
Encouraging
the transition
to sustainable
investment
To date, savings and
• Encourage wider
investments have typically
adoption of ESG/
been geared towards
Sustainable funds on
traditional investments
financial platforms.
that don’t necessarily
• Continue to push
incorporate ESG.
for comprehensive
However, as demand
responsible investment
for sustainable and ESGpolicies for insurance
integrated investments
holdings.
grows, and regulations
to better classify what
constitutes ‘sustainable’
investment follow suit,
companies should play
their part to promote
it to further accelerate
the transition needed
for a more sustainable
economy. We will focus
on determining which
companies are leading
the way and which need
to do more.
In 2022:
In 2023, we will:
• We spoke to three
investee companies
that are involved with
financial platforms
on wider adoption
of ESG/Sustainable
funds.
• Encourage further
adoption of
sustainable funds on
financial platforms.
• We met with four
investee companies
on their responsible
investment policies.
• Continue to push
for comprehensive
responsible investment
policies for insurance
holdings.
• Engage with insurance
holdings on their
underwriting policies
and practices for
controversial areas
of the economy and
how these are likely to
evolve.
Case study: AJ Bell
The company acknowledged that
sustainable investment is a growing
area of interest, and they are
continuing to provide education on
the topic for clients. Their responsible fund has done well but is
not a significant part of their assets. One interesting statistic was
that over half of the people that bought the fund when it launched
had been customers for less than 12 months. This supports our
hypothesis that sustainable investing is becoming increasingly
important to the younger generation.
Case study: Legal & General
We contacted Legal & General to gain a
clearer understanding of their exposure to
Russian government debt. L&G noted that
they manage many index funds against a
range of different index providers to meet
a wide variety of different client demands.
36 - Liontrust Sustainable Investment: Annual Review 2022
A number of these are ESG indices however, this does not mean
that L&G would use the same ESG rating for every security similar
to the index provider, but in an index fund they have a responsibility
to minimise any difference in performance from the underlying
index they are tracking. The company also noted they are deeply
saddened by the situation in Ukraine.