Sustainability is a cornerstone of our approach. We believe companies that best manage their environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities will benefit multiple stakeholders, while generating sustainable, long-term returns to shareholders.
We integrate ESG fully into our investment process, including thematic and company research and stewardship. Our approach includes an explicit ESG screen and detailed, in-house ESG research and scoring. We identify and discuss material ESG factors throughout the research process. Our assessment of the company’s ESG approach and track record drives an overall ESG confidence score, which then feeds into our position sizing process. A top score could result in a 30% larger position size compared to an average ESG confidence score.
Emerging markets can present unique ESG challenges, such as differing standards of corporate governance, challenging ownership structures and weaker corporate transparency. As part of our comprehensive stewardship program, we regularly engage with boards and leadership teams of companies we invest in on these matters and use proxy voting to drive long-term outcomes.
The approach is supported by a specialist ESG team that draws on Maple-Brown Abbott’s long history of responsible investment leadership and works alongside the investment analysts on all aspects of ESG integration.