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Our Principles
Responsibility is an integral part of its day-to-day work of portfolio management. All investment decisions are steered by our 2017 renewed principles for responsible investment. The principles observe the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as climate change mitigation.
The new principles further specified the policy for responsible investments in different asset categories: equities and corporate bonds, government bonds, third-party funds and alternative investments.
Observance of responsibility factors
As a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), we have committed ourselves to observing various aspects of ESG responsibility as part of our day-to-day investment decisions in the entire product range.
Excluded sectors
We do not make direct investments in the tobacco or weapons industries or in gambling activities. Nor do we invest in companies using child labor.
Active ownership
We make use of partners to regularly review our investments with respect to potential breaches of standards. Besides this, we conduct dialogue with companies that have breached standards and, where necessary, make use of our right to vote at annual general meetings.
Our Commitments
Environmental thinking is prominent in our work. In May 2017, we signed a joint letter from global investors to the G20 governments, urging them to support the Paris climate change agreement, to promote investments required by the transition to a lower carbon economy and to implement the reporting framework in connection with climate change. In the autumn 2017, we also signed CDP's Climate Change initiative, which encourages listed companies to report greenhouse gas emissions.
And our work continues, in 2018 we committed ourselves to the Climate Action 100 + initiative. In 2018 we again signed a joint letter this time to the G7 governments, urging them to further implement actions to reach the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement.
In partnership with ISS-Ethix, we belong to an extensive investor consortium, enabling us to conduct advocacy and dialogue (engagement) with companies that may have breached international norms according to the UN Global Compact framework. At the same time, ISS-Ethix provides us regular reviews of our funds' holdings in stocks and corporate bonds with respect to any breaches of the norms.
The responsibility of a country depends on its willingness and ability to solve the challenges presented to it. Over the longer term, economies that are well governed have the highest probability of creating added value for their citizens.
We observe the following factors when assessing government bonds from a responsibility perspective: political practices, government strength, social development, economic and financial stability, ability to withstand external shocks, and willingness to reform. A deficiency in any single factor does not in itself cause a negative investment decision. However, deficiencies in several factors, in combination with a regressive policy, can lead to a country being excluded from our investment portfolios.
Especially in the case of emerging market investments it is important to consider, that EM government bond investments support the development in these countries, which is responsible already in itself.
Through instrument selection, we can decide when we finance a specific government directly, and when we support some specific development project for example through multinational development programmes. Through investments, emerging market countries become more integrated into the global financial system and gain better access to the international bond market on reasonable terms. This enables improvements in the standard of living in these economies, improving the preconditions for the realization of human rights on a global scale.
Aktia's investment process has been proven to lead to a smaller carbon footprint than that of the reference market. Based on public data the carbon footprint of our equity funds is on average approximately 50 per cent less than that of the relevant reference market.
ESG Policy
Aktia's investment process has been proven to lead to a smaller carbon footprint than that of the reference market. Based on public data the carbon footprint of our equity funds is on average approximately 50 per cent less than that of the relevant reference market.
When we talk about responsible investments, we mean observing all aspects relating to environmental, social and corporate governance related factors (ESG factors).