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Sustainability in manager research

For more than three decades, manager research has been the foundation of our investment management philosophy, and today, it underpins our sustainable investing capabilities. Our approach to ESG research provides an in-depth analysis of each of our managers based on three broad sets of factors: profile, resources, and practices.

Sustainable investing solutions

We have a 20-year track record of providing custom screening solutions to clients through separate accounts, enabling them to align their portfolios with their values by excluding investments in certain sectors or with certain business practices.

Investment stewardship

We use our voice—and our vote—to influence organisations to act in the best interests of our clients, including considering ESG issues in shareholder engagement and proxy voting.

COP26 and pension schemes

The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) saw governments hand over their net zero emissions commitments to the corporate sector. At SEI, we have strong conviction in our investment stewardship program to effect long-term change. Stewardship is how investors use their voice as owners in a company to influence its sustainability practices and encourage long-term management of risks and opportunities.

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Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have been increasing in the earth’s atmosphere due to mankind’s actions since the industrial movement began. Emissions have increased by 40% in the last 20 years alone.

Governments are beginning to ramp up efforts to reduce carbon emissions as climate impacts are increasingly felt world-wide. At the latest United Nations Conference of the Parties in Glasgow last year, governments built on previous commitments made in Paris in 2015. This year, hopefully, governments can make even more progress to mitigate climate change at COP 27 in Egypt.

These recent commitments made by governments could bring future greenhouse gas emissions closer to a long term net zero position. This is good news. Projected carbon emissions are moving in the right direction.

However, there is still further to go to get to a low carbon future. Everyone, including companies, has a responsibility.

One effective way to influence change in corporate behaviours is by the way pension schemes invest in companies, engage with their management and vote at their board meetings. Pension schemes may be able to wield influence because of the amount of capital they invest overall.

That’s why at SEI we have strong conviction in our investment stewardship program to effect long-term change. Stewardship is how investors use their voice as owners in a company to influence sustainability practices and encourage long-term management of risks and opportunities. Investment stewardship leverages investor influence with companies to promote positive environmental, social and governance strategy through engagement and proxy voting. At SEI, we believe in proactively engaging company leadership to foster collaboration and productive dialogue on priority issues.  

As we see more changes in company and government behaviours hopefully we’ll see greenhouse gas mitigation plans that bring the world closer to the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.

 

Want to learn more about our approach to sustainable investing?

Download our ‘Sustainable Investing at SEI’ paper

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Important Information

This webpage contains marketing material about our fiduciary management service. This webpage does not represent impartial advice on this service. In certain cases, you are required to conduct a competitive tender process prior to appointing a fiduciary manager. Guidance on running a tender process is available from the Pensions Regulator.

This is a marketing communication.

This webpage is provided by SEI Investments (Europe) Ltd (""SIEL""). SIEL is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Financial Services Register Firm Reference Number (FRN) 191713. Registered office; 1st Floor, Alphabeta, 14-18 Finsbury Square, London EC2A 1BR. Registered in England and Wales – company number 03765319. This webpage is only for the intended recipient and should not be distributed further. While considerable care has been taken to ensure the information contained within this webpage is accurate and up-to date and complies with relevant legislation and regulations, no warranty is given and no representation is made as to the accuracy or completeness of any information and no liability is accepted for any errors or omissions in such information or any action taken on the basis of this information. The views and opinions in this webpage are of SEI only and are subject to change. They should not be construed as investment advice.

Sustainability guidelines may cause a manager to make or avoid certain investment decisions when it may be disadvantageous to do so. This means that these investments may underperform other similar investments that do not consider sustainability guidelines when making investment decisions. There can be no assurance goals will be met.

If a product or strategy is subject to certain sustainable investment criteria it may avoid purchasing certain securities when it is otherwise economically advantageous to purchase those securities, or may sell certain securities when it is otherwise economically advantageous to hold those securities.

Sustainability is not uniformly defined and scores and ratings may vary across providers.

SEI considers ESG factors as part of its Portfolio Manager Research and due diligence process including an evaluation of each Portfolio Manager’s approach to integrating sustainability risk in its investment process; however, no minimum threshold has been established with respect to these capabilities in order for a firm to be hired as a Portfolio Manager.