Socially Responsible Investor Policy
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Socially Responsible Investor Policy April 2021 INTRODUCTION LYXOR is a group of asset management companies with expertise in all investment forms, active, passive and alternative. LYXOR creates innovative investment solutions to meet the long-term challenges of savings management. Thanks to its experts and its engineering and research tradition, LYXOR combines performance and risk management. LYXOR puts Socially Responsible Investment at the heart of its investment strategy by creating concrete solutions that take into account environmental, social and governance factors, in order to address the challenges of the future. Through this report, LYXOR presents how socially responsible investment is implemented on a daily basis. CONTENTS LYXOR, a responsible investor 3 LYXOR commitments and partnerships 4 An ecosystem to support SRI deployment at LYXOR 7 Design innovative solutions incorporating ESG criteria 11 Act as a committed and responsible shareholder 22 Integrate ESG into the core of our model 26 Publications related to LYXOR SRI activities 29 2 LYXOR, A RESPONSIBLE INVESTOR Convinced of the environmental, social and governance challenges facing civil society, LYXOR has defined – in line with its long-standing commitment to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) of the United Nations, a responsible investor policy. This policy outlines the values and practices established by our organization to integrate ESG issues into its various investment solutions. Its main objectives are: • Taking into account the sustainability risks and opportunities resulting from the non-financial analysis of companies, • Investing to have a positive impact on social, environmental and corporate governance integration, • Influence companies to adopt more sustainable practices. As part of its responsible investor policy, LYXOR focuses its commitments on three pillars: Design innovative solutions incorporating ESG criteria Act as a committed and responsible shareholder Integrate ESG into the core of its model In conjunction with the integration of ESG criteria into its investment strategy and its shareholder engagement policy, LYXOR takes climate issues into account as an integral part of its responsible investment policy and presents them in its Climate Policy available HERE. 3 INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABILITY RISKS Integration of sustainability risks by the Management Company in its investment decision‐making processes relies namely on practices described in this policy. "Sustainability Risk" means an environmental, social or governance (ESG) event or condition that, if it occurs, could cause an actual or a potential material negative impact on the value of the investments made by the relevant fund. Sustainability Risks can either represent a risk on their own or have an impact on other risks and may contribute significantly to such risks, such as (but not limited to) market risks, operational risks, liquidity risks or counterparty risks. Assessment of sustainability risks is complex and may be based on ESG data which is difficult to obtain, incomplete, estimated, out of date and/or otherwise materially inaccurate. Even when identified, there can be no guarantee that these data will be correctly assessed. Sustainability risk is linked but not limited to climate-related events resulting from climate change (a.k.a Physical Risks) or to the society’s response to climate change (a.k.a Transition Risks), which may result in unanticipated losses that could affect the relevant [Sub-Fund]’s investments and financial condition. Social events (e.g. inequality, inclusiveness, labour relations, investment in human capital, accident prevention, changing customer behaviour, etc.) or governance shortcomings (e.g. recurrent significant breach of international agreements, bribery issues, products quality and safety, selling practices, etc.) may also translate into Sustainability Risks. By implementing exclusion policies in relation to issuers whose environmental and/or social and/or governance practices are controversial on certain strategies, the Management Company aims to mitigate Sustainability Risks. In addition, when a Fund follows an extra-financial approach, through the implementation of the ESG investment process (including but not limited to selection, thematic or impact), Sustainability Risk intend to be further significantly reduced or mitigated. In both cases, please note that no insurance can be given that Sustainability Risks will be totally removed. 4 LYXOR COMMITMENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS LYXOR is a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment supported by the United Nations (www.unpri.org), and thus undertakes to respect the following 6 principles: The 6 commitments of LYXOR as a signatory of the PRI 1 2 3 4 5 6 We will integrate We will be active We will seek We will promote We will work We will each ESG issues into shareholders and appropriate acceptance and together to report on our our decision- will integrate ESG disclosure on ESG implementation enhance our activities and making and issues into our issues by the of the Principles effectiveness in progress towards investment ownership entities in which within the implementing the implementing the analysis policies and we invest. investment Principles. Principles. processes. procedures. industry. 2019 LYXOR Rating 5 A+ Since 2017, LYXOR has obtained the rating of A+ in the Strategy and Governance category of the UNPRI Climate commitments LYXOR joined the Climate Bond Initiative partnership program to demonstrate its commitment to contributing to low-carbon investments. With this in mind, LYXOR and CBI have unveiled a detailed report on the French green bond market. As an investor in the green bond market, LYXOR adheres to the Green Bond Principles, which determine the terms of issuance of green bonds contributing to the integrity of the market. GBPs provide advice to issuers on the key elements involved in launching a credible green bond; assist investors by ensuring the availability of information necessary to assess the environmental impact of their investments in green bonds; and they help underwriters by moving the market to standard disclosures that will facilitate transactions. In 2018, LYXOR joined the Climate Action 100+, an international initiative that mobilize and engage greenhouse gas emitters to drive the energy transition and thus contribute to the achievement of the Paris Agreement objectives. Through Climate Action 100+, LYXOR is seeking the commitment of companies, specifically from boards of directors and management, to provide more complete information in accordance with the final recommendations of the Task-force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In 2020, LYXOR has joined the CDP. The CDP investor initiatives (Former Carbon Disclosure Project) is a non-profit organization of British origin, launched in 2000, its goal is to engage with businesses to inspire them to disclose and manage climate change issues, in order to create a sustainable investment for their shareholders. The CDP aims to promote the efforts made to reduce the carbon impact. The CDP wants to encourage investors, companies and cities to "do what is necessary quickly to build a truly sustainable economy" by measuring and understanding their environmental impact. 6 In 2020, LYXOR publicly supports the TCFD. Initiated in 2017, it encourages organizations to communicate on the way in which they manage climate-related risks according to 4 pillars: governance, strategy, risk management and metrics & targets. This pledge fits into the continuity of commitments that LYXOR is taking to participate in the fight against climate change. Commitments within professional associations LYXOR is a member of professional associations (AFG, EFAMA) in order to participate in discussions at national and European level, via dedicated working groups on responsible investment. LYXOR also participates in the following technical committees and working groups of the Association Française de Gestion d'actifs (AFG): • Responsible Investment Committee • Corporate Governance Committee Academic Research Partnerships LYXOR has joined several academic chairs whose objective is to promote high quality academic research on portfolio management and construction. The idea is to connect universities with the asset management industry. LYXOR is a member of the Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment Chair whose work has contributed to the emergence of new valuation models that take into account the environmental and social consequences of companies’ actions in the long term. It is co- directed by Sébastien Pouget (Université Toulouse 1 Capitole, IDEI-TSE and IAE) and Patricia Crifo (Department of Economics of the Ecole Polytechnique), and builds on the skills of teams of highly qualified and internationally recognized researchers. In 2015, LYXOR launched in partnership with the House of Finance of the University Paris- Dauphine, an innovative research initiative: the ‘Research Academy’. 7 AN ECOSYSTEM TO SUPPORT SRI DEPLOYMENT AT LYXOR A dedicated SRI team created in 2015 LYXOR has a dedicated SRI team, which determines the Responsible Investment Policy and its implementation. The team centralizes all ESG/SRI-related matters and represents LYXOR in the due diligence process in support of the Risk, Management, Sales, Marketing and Customer Relations teams. The SRI team has six members (responsible investment’ professionals) including four SRI analysts and one intern. The SRI team is under the responsibility