Top 10: Sustainability Investors

Transitioning to a sustainable world is not a small or cheap task.

As with everything, innovations in clean technology need financing.

Investors do not just have the money for this, but also the influence to start aligning financial markets with climate goals. 

We have ranked 10 of the top sustainability investors.

10. Fidelity

• CEO: Abigail Johnson
• Founded: 1946
• Headquarters: Massachusetts, US
• Assets under management: US$4.9tr

Fidelity is known for its active management approach to investing. Its active sustainable funds prioritise one or more ESG factors in its fundamental research and investment disciplines. 

Pam Holding, Co-Head of Equity and Head of Sustainable Investing at Fidelity, says: “Our sustainable investment research prioritises the same intellectual rigour and proprietary analysis that shape all our active management capabilities. 

“We believe that consideration of sustainability risks and opportunities is an essential component of a world-class fundamental research process.”

09. AXA Investment Managers

• Executive Chairman: Marco Morelli 
• Founded: 1994
• Headquarters: Puteaux, France
• Assets under management: US$922bn

AXA Investment Managers uses ESG at the heart of its responsible investing approach and aims to act decisively on climate issues through open engagement and dialogue with companies.

Thomas Coudert, Head of Sustainability, Core Investments at AXA Investment Managers, says: “Beyond incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles into the decision-making processes, sustainable finance must play a leading role to enable the transformation of the real economy towards a low-carbon model.”

08. BNP Paribas Asset Management

• CEO: Sandro Pierri
• Founded: 2007
• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Assets under management: US$586.5bn

BNP Paribas Asset Management uses a sustainability-driven approach to investing, aiming to generate long-term sustainable returns for its clients.

Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Sustainability at BNP Paribas Asset Management, says: “We believe a shift to a low-carbon, more sustainable economy is essential for the long-term health of capital markets and have strengthened our years-long commitment to incorporating climate change into how we manage investment portfolios and support our clients on their net zero journey.”

07. State Street Global Advisors

• CEO: Yie-Hsin Hung
• Founded: 1978
• Headquarters: Massachusetts, US
• Assets under management: US$4.3tn

State Street Global Advisors offers a wide spectrum of investment strategies, including Negative and Positive ESG Screening and Third Party ESG or Sustainable Index Investment Strategies.

In 2017 it placed the Fearless Girl statue in the New York City financial district to symbolise women taking charge today and inspiring the next generation of women leaders, alongside calling on companies to take intentional steps to increase the number of women on corporate boards.

06. Goldman Sachs

• CEO: David Solomon
• Founded: 1869
• Headquarters: New York, United States
• Assets under supervision: US$2.8tn

Goldman Sachs uses sustainability as a firmwide mandate with focusses on climate transition and inclusive growth and is deploying US$750bn across investing, financing and advisory activities by 2030.

Kara Succoso Mangone, Head of the Sustainable Finance Group at Goldman Sachs, says: “Amid a challenging geopolitical and macroeconomic landscape, we continue to finance and advise our clients in the energy sector, given its importance to the global economy, while investing in innovative decarbonisation technologies that can help accelerate the transition.”

05. Janus Henderson

• CEO: Ali Dibadj
• Founded: 1934
• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Assets under management: US$335bn

Janus Henderson aims to deliver strong, risk-adjusted returns for its clients by investing with a sense of purpose. It integrates strong ESG factors into its investment decision-making and ownership practices.

Michelle Dunstan, Chief Responsibility Officer at Janus Henderson, says: “Investing in a climate transition isn't simple - it requires active research and engagement to identify companies with credible transition plans and those whose products and services represent the best solutions and enablers.”

04. Allianz Global Investors

• CEO: Tobias Pross
• Founded: 1998
• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Assets under management: US$735bn

As an active investor, Allianz Global Investors has research at its core. Its AllianzGI provides ESG risk focus and a range of sustainable product categories.

Matt Christensen, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing, says: “Sustainable finance is increasingly focused on impact as well as transition investing. 

“When it comes to transition, a key challenge is how to mitigate climate change risks over time while accepting that a wholesale stop to existing activities is often not going to be agreed.”

03. Morgan Stanley

• CEO: Edward Pick
• Founded: 1935
• Headquarters: New York, US
• Assets under management: US$1.5tn

Morgan Stanley was the first major US bank to commit to achieving net zero financed emissions by 2050. Its subsidiary Calvert Investment Management is focussed on responsible investing. 

Jessica Alsford, Chief Sustainability Officer and CEO at the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, says: “To achieve these goals, we recognise how important it is to operationalise our commitments in a way that balances the need to rapidly decarbonize the global economy with the real-world circumstances acutely affecting individuals and communities.”

02. Vanguard

• CEO: Salim Ramji
• Founded: 1975
• Headquarters: Pennsylvania, US
• Assets under management: US$7.2tr

As one of the largest asset managers globally, Vanguard is poised to make a significant difference in helping to finance the transition to a more sustainable economy.

Headquartered in Pennsylvania, Vanguard serves a range of clients including individual investors, financial advisors and institutional investors.

The company offers a selection of products that offer different ESG approaches to help fit individual client preferences. It aims to avoid providing a one-size-fits-all ESG approach by offering a range of different solutions.

Its ESG index products avoid or reduce exposure to certain ESG risks, including industries like fossil fuels, firearms and tobacco. 

Vanguard’s active ESG funds allocate capital to companies with leading or improving ESG practices, to help investors achieve certain ESG outcomes. 

The company also engages directly with firms held in its funds to understand how they manage material risks. Its Investment Stewardship Team engages with companies and seeks to address material risks.

01. BlackRock

• CEO: Larry Fink
• Founded: 1988
• Headquarters: New York, US
• Assets under management: US$10tn

BlackRock is the world’s largest investment manager and is positioning itself as an industry leader for ESG considerations in investments.

It has predicted that by 2030 at least 75% of its investments will be in businesses that have science based targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“The ‘E’ and ‘S’ of ESG are two sides of the same coin,” says Nate Hurst, Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer, Managing Director of BlackRock Foundation.

“We can’t talk about climate change and the energy transition without recognising their impacts on people and communities. That’s why I’m excited to have expert minds across sustainability and social impact sitting around the same table and tackling these complex issues together.

"Working at a place and with people that rally around the same call to action makes it easy to walk in lockstep towards its reality.”

To read the full story in the magazine click HERE

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