As a front line player in the RI industry, Mirova is committed to engage in favour of responsible and sustainable finance through its advocacy/public policy engagement. Mirova’s engagement approach towards public policy-makers results from its business model and investment philosophy, which actively promote conviction-based investment approaches seeking value creation from economic, environmental and social perspectives.
Since 2016, Mirova has actively conducted advocacy activities, which are fully based on the objectives and principles of its responsible investment policy. Mirova’s advocacy strategy, which promotes responsible investment towards public policy makers, in achieved in several ways (drafting of position papers and other publications, direct dialogue with public authorities, contribution to public consultations, participation in working groups, involvement in RI professional bodies, participation in conferences/events, sponsorship of academic research, etc.).
Advocacy Goals: The purpose is to develop sustainable finance and to achieve higher standards for the asset management industry, so as to collectively build a finance with positive environmental and social impacts. Advocacy is conducted in order to promote our vision within the responsible investment market. We speak with national and transnational regulatory bodies as well as with RI professional organisations to encourage specific regulations and standards for sustainable finance.
Mirova’s overall advocacy objectives could be summarised as follows:
- To provide investors with the means to identify the needs of sustainable investment (disclosure);
- To remove the obstacles to the development of the sustainable investment market and to provide the tools needed to do so (labels);
- To strengthen sustainable investment within the financial industry.
Main advocacy actions in 2017 -2018 and 2019:
Development of sustainable finance
- Membership and very active contribution to the EU Commission’s High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on sustainable finance works, intermediary and final reports; and close following of the EU Action Plan on sustainable finance;
- Chairmanship of and contribution to Finance For Tomorrow, the Paris Europlace Green & Sustainable Finance Initiative; that organised in particular the Climate Finance Day;
- Co-lead of the Finance for Tomorrow Policy commission that organises a dialogue among public and private stakeholders on sustainable finance;
- Advocacy actions at the French level to support an improved governance of French RI public labels (SRI and TEEC) and the coherence of the French approach to responsible investment (with regards to the development of a French Market Authority (AMF) doctrine on responsible investment)
- Advocacy actions at the French level to support the development of RI, green and solidarity investment products through the development of life-insurance
- Technical support to the EU Commission to help develop an EU ecolabel that can be both ambitious and realistic for investment funds on the basis of the EU taxonomy;
Support to climate action and disclosure
- Selection and contribution of Manuel Coeslierportfolio manager, to the EU Commission’s Technical Expert Group (TEG) on sustainable finance, to help define the characteristics of low-carbon benchmarks.
- Response to public consultations: Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
- Support to 6 investors statements and letters for more climate action and TCFD disclosure guidelines (2017);
Publications
- Drafting of a publication for Finance for Tomorrow explaining the stakes of the HLEG interim report.
- Publication of the Canfin-Zaouati report "for the creation of France-Transition" for the French Ministries of the Economy and of the Environment to develop blended finance tools to foster private investment for the energy transition, especially through dedicated involvement of French public finance institutions;
- Support university research, with financial support for the Energy and Prosperity Chair.
The above-mentioned advocacy initiatives are described in Mirova’s annual engagement report, available on its website: http://www.mirova.com/en-INT/voting-and-engagement.