FOR ADVISERS ONLY
We collaborated with EY to publish this paper which explores the link between corporate financial performance and ESG considerations and is particularly important to advisers that believe ESG is detrimental to financial returns.
Responsible investment – key facts and useful resources
At Royal London, we want to make it easy for you to understand responsible investment and what it means for your business and your clients. So, we’ve pulled together some key facts and useful resources about responsible investment, to help you access this information in one place.
Understanding terminology
Not everyone uses the same terminology when talking about responsible investment. To help drive consistency and help you have more meaningful conversations with your clients about responsible investment, it’s important to understand the various industry terms. We’ve created a glossary to explain how we use these terms.
We’d also recommend having a look at The Investment Association’s responsible investment framework. This explains the current industry standard for labelling and definitions of different responsible investment approaches.
There are five different responsible investment approaches split across fund and firm level, based on consultation with over 40 asset managers.
What practical support is there?
UNPRI
The history of responsible investment is basically the history of the UNPRI. It’s considered the leading investor initiative relevant to responsible investment and has grown significantly from 100 signatories in 2006 to over 3,000 today and reflects the journey responsible investment has made in transitioning into the mainstream. There are some excellent resources on the UNPRI website including guides, case studies and webinars which are worth scoping out.
MSCI
MSCI – Powering better investment decisions - MSCI
MSCI is a leading provider of support tools and services for the global investment community. Their website includes access to various free support material and tools, including ESG fund rankings.
Starting the client conversation
UN Social Development Goals
Home | Sustainable Development (un.org)
This can be used as a starting point for your client conversations as it adds context and brings Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues to life:
- Provides an overview of the 17 objectives and 169 goals.
- Great self-educational tool on the highest priority sustainability themes.
Mobile app – SDGs in action (available in App/Play store)
A great way for you to bring ESG issues to life in client meetings.
Client fact finding and segmentation
Join Ryan Medlock and Fiona Hanrahan as they look at the current responsible investment landscape and discuss best practice in how to prepare and conduct client conversations. Ryan and Fiona also explore the steps financial planners can take to integrate responsible investment considerations into advice propositions, including fact-finding, client segmentation, and combatting the evolving threat of greenwashing.
Learning objectives
- Learn how to better prepare and conduct more engaging client conversations on responsible investment
- Have a better understanding of how responsible investment can be integrated into advice and investment propositions
- Understand the main recommendations of the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan and other regulatory drivers in relation to responsible investment
Selecting investments and how to spot greenwashing
Greenwashing is a huge concern for investors when it comes to responsible investment. We want to make it easy for you to research the different responsible investment approaches and find out how companies are investing responsibly.
We’ve collaborated with Square Mile, an award-winning investment research business with a strong reputation in responsible investment where we explain how to spot greenwashing and highlight some key questions to ask fund managers.
There’s also a lot of useful information in The New Money guide to Greenwashing.