Our periodic portfolio performance reviews, conducted on a semi-annual basis, cover all aspects of our investment activities including responsible investment objectives. In addition, investment committees continually review objectives and how we are meeting them. The Global Responsible Investment Management Committee meets on a quarterly basis to specifically review global and regional responsible investment objectives and will revise accordingly if needed. Regional and business-line Responsible Investment Management Committees meet monthly to review progress against objectives and implementation of various sustainability initiatives on corporate and investment level.
On a Fund level, our ESG strategies are framed around the three key material issues we have identified: Carbon, Transparency, and Compliance. These are further underpinned with relevant ‘second-tier’ related issues, which form our key performance indicators list. This approach makes our ESG strategy clear to all stakeholders, with ambitious targets, but also flexible to adjust to internal or external changes, such as asset type mix or regulatory shifts.
For example, one Fund, having met previous targets, made three adaptations to its strategy for 2020 and beyond as follows:
- Set the new Transparency target to maintain a 5-star GRESB rating and achieve 90 points.
- The Fund adjusted its strategy and plan based on a large portfolio acquisition and continues to monitor when further changes are needed.
- The Firm's approach to TCFD has been integrated into the strategy, including reporting to the GRESB Resilience module and significantly increasing our ambitions under the Compliance pillar.