Our ESG-policy describes the ESG factors relevant to our investments, outlines the principles for managing our assets so as to promote ESG responsibility and specifies our ESG-related objectives, benchmarks, restrictions and duties. The policy applies to all employees, including the board of directors.
The ESG-policy contains a non-exhaustive listing of ESG issues we take into account, and applies to all the asset classes in which we invest. Our portfolio management is guided by our desire to anticipate future societal, human and environmental needs. When considering whether to invest in a given company or asset, we carry out an ESG assessment based on the ESG-policy. We may also conduct specific additional assessments covering other ESG factors.
The policy is implemented by using ESG factors as a risk filter, performing ESG-based analyses, taking an active role in promoting ESG and performing positive and negative screening. In addition, we aim to promote ESG issues more broadly by the following: Incorporating ESG factors into our investment decisions; ensuring our portfolios adhere to ESG principles; implementing responsible investment processes; reporting on ESG issues transparently; analysing ESG factors as an integral part of our investment processes; excluding specific controversial industries from our investments; actively promoting acceptance and implementation of ESG issues.
In extreme cases, our ESG analysis and the conclusions made according to them can lead us to exclude a company or asset from our investment universe.
As we have four asset classes, the approaches for the concrete ESG implementation are very different one from another. Therefore, we aim to develop an appendix to the ESG-Policy in the next reporting year which addresses each of the four asset classes specifically to define the particular approaches.