Following Investment Committee's decision to allocate a small percentage of our portfolio to thematic investments, our Independent  Investment Advisor surveyed the market to identify which funds would be a good match for our own investment objectives (including to invest responsibly) and were managed by managers who properly understood ESG integrated investment. She shortlisted a number of funds which were considered by the committee and we met with a small number of fund managers on the list. Following this process our Investment Committee, Independent Investment Advisor and Head of Finance met with the fund manager of the Impax Asian Environmental Markets (Ireland) fund  to discuss in further detail the objectives of the fund, how investment decisions are made and how ESG is integrated into that decision making process. This included obtaining a separate written summary of their investment process and in depth discussions about their engagement processes. We also examined closely how compatible our own investment objectives would be to those of the fund.

We invested in the Impax Asian Environmental Markets (Ireland) fund and continue to monitor the fund manager's financial and ESG performance. 

Following Investment Committee's decision to allocate a small percentage of our portfolio to thematic investments, our Independent  Investment Advisor surveyed the market to identify which funds would be a good match for our own investment objectives (including to invest responsibly) and were managed by managers who properly understood ESG integrated investment. She shortlisted a number of funds which were considered by the committee and we met with a small number of fund managers on the list. Following this process our Investment Committee, Independent Investment Advisor and Head of Finance met with the fund manager of the proposed Generation Sustainable Solutions Fund III fund  to discuss in further detail the objectives of the fund, how investment decisions would be made and how ESG would be integrated into that decision making process. We also examined closely how compatible our own investment objectives would be to those of the proposed fund.

We committed to investing in the Generation Sustainable Solutions Fund III (the first investment is due in 2019). Generation were happy to amend the investment management agreement.to ensure that our own negative screens were reflected within it.

Investment Committee were concerned that the investment management industry was not paying enough attention to the issues around Power and Accountability in the technology sector.

We used to regard technology companies as being, on balance, socially and environmentally beneficial and indeed many of them position themselves as being about the consumer, empowering the individual.  However, over time the power of these companies has increased and the dominance of Facebook, Google and Amazon with relatively little regulatory accountability.  Although these companies are now being challenged by the media, regulators and society, many of these groups are struggling to understand and keep up with technological change. At the same time, in China we have seen the disturbing development of Orwellian government social surveillance systems.

As artificial intelligence applications continue to develop exponentially, and companies have increasing opportunity to harvest and manipulate personal data and to become involved in making choices which will impact on society as a whole, concerns around the activities of these companies is only likely to intensify.

So in 2018 we decided to convene a meeting of our fund managers together to discuss these issues and to identify the responsibilities of investors in addressing them.

• We had a successful meeting of our fund managers. All our fund managers attended and we were able to have a very open and constructive debate. It was clear that different fund managers were at different places on their journey of thinking about these issues but critically there was an acknowledgement by everyone in the room of the importance of addressing them
• There were many important learning points from the session. One of the most important was the need for fund managers to share their learning with one another and to collaborate. Some of the technology companies are huge and, particularly in China, access to them is often restricted. We recognised that where there are only limited opportunities to engage and we are up against behemoths, it is important that we use our combined influence and focus on the same issues
• Following the meeting we produced a document which we have published on our website outlining our expectations of our fund managers in terms of power and accountability in the technology sector. We are expecting our fund managers to report annually against it
• We have disseminated our work by speaking at conferences and writing in the press.

In 2016 we began a programme of work aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the fund management industry. While we saw this as an equality issue, we were also concerned about its impact on the quality of decision making by our fund managers and their consideration of ESG issues.

In that year we issued an statement laying out our expectations of our fund managers in terms of the gender balance within their own firms and each year we ask them to report on what progress they have made against it.

All our fund managers reported back in the year on the gender balance within their own firms. It is clear that different fund managers are at different places on their journey with some of our fund managers being a model of excellence and other having further to go. That said, we do not set targets and we do recognise that there are structural barriers to change (such a low staff turnover). Nevertheless, we do expect a recognition from the laggards of the need to improve over time and to see movement in the right direction. We continue to engage with those fund managers where would like to see faster progress.

We were concerned that the merger of Informa and UBM to form B2B Information Services Group meant that we had become part owners in an arm exhibition company. Although this represents only a very small part of the group's activities, we regard any level of this kind of activity as being unacceptable. We are therefore engaging with our one fund manager who holds the stock in their portfolio about our concerns.

The engagement is ongoing and will also form part of our 2019 PRI reporting.