Investing responsibly
Meeting demand for a rigorous approach to sustainability for more than 20 years
ESG strategy and beliefs
Responsible investment principles are deeply rooted across Unigestion’s business and the majority of our assets are covered by ESG considerations.
Our ESG philosophy
- We approach ESG in the same way as all investment risk, carefully assessing the potential impacts and opportunities through a combination of systematic and discretionary analysis, research and monitoring.
- We believe well-governed businesses with responsible practices can make a positive contribution to our clients’ portfolios over the long term.
- Sustainability will be a long-term driver for change in markets, countries, sectors and companies, creating opportunities for fruitful investment.
- As an investor, we want to participate in the investment returns these opportunities will generate.
Integration and active ownership
Engagement and collaboration are critical to our active ownership approach. We have been a signatory to the UNPRI since 2013 and integrate ESG considerations into our investment processes through universe screening, investment selection, portfolio construction, proxy voting and direct and collaborative engagement.
Proxy voting
We believe in the importance of being an active shareholder and exercise the voting rights of our clients through an outsourced arrangement with a third-party proxy voting specialist.
2023 proxy voting statistics:
Unigestion’s proxy voting is based on a customised policy built upon our provider’s proxy voting policy. It includes enhancements to address stricter rules for director and auditor independence, as well as the incorporation of the provider’s Climate Voting Services, which uses their Climate Scorecard.
Explore our latest voting activity on our voting data portal.
Direct engagement
Engagement candidates are selected based on financial materiality, issues emerging from the AGM, significant controversies, quantitative ESG analysis or qualitative ESG or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) matters identified by our analysts.
We have four engagement catalysts:
- AGM-based engagements
- Thematic engagement
- ESG or controversy engagements
- Client specific requests or certain requirements
Collaborative engagement
Unigestion collaborates in a number of industry engagement initiatives:
Initiative: Climate Action 100+
Year joined: 2018
Objective: an investor-led initiative to ensure the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters take appropriate action on climate change to mitigate financial risk and maximise long term asset values.
Initiative: Plastic Solutions Investor Alliance
Year joined: 2020
Objective: an international coalition of institutional investors that engages directly with publicly-traded consumer goods companies on the threat posed by plastic waste and pollution and find solutions.
Initiative: FAIRR Sustainable Protein Collaborative EngagementYear joined: 2020
Objective: a collaborative investor network that raises awareness of the ESG risks and opportunities in the global food sector and seeks to minimise risks in the food system.
Initiative: Access To Medicine Foundation
Year joined: 2022
Objective: seeking to transform the healthcare ecosystem by motivating and mobilising companies to expand access to essential healthcare products living in low and middle income countries.
Initiative: Initiative Climat International
Year joined: 2018
Objective: private equity initiative seeking
to better understand and manage the risks associated with climate change and reduce the carbon emissions of private equity-backed companies.
Initiative: CDP
Year joined: 2022
Objective: bringing asset managers and owners together to encourage companies to curb emissions, strengthen climate-related disclosures and improve governance on climate issues.
Initiative: Spring
Year joined: 2024
Objective: a PRI stewardship initiative for nature, bringing together institutional investors to use their collective influence to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss by 2030.
Our goals
We focus on creating long-term, sustainable value for our clients, for our stakeholders and for society.
Our approach is structured around the following overarching goals:
Promote a purpose linked to the needs of society
- Helping the world’s population fund their retirement or meet other life goals.
- Financing the long-term needs of the real economy by channeling capital to finance growth.
- Creating the necessary architecture to help solve social and environmental problems, such as facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy.
- Our largest shareholder is the Famsa Foundation, established by our Chairman Bernard Sabrier.
- Famsa supports a wide range of non-profit projects in the charitable, educational, cultural and medical fields.
- We have put in place strong governance and succession plans to safeguard Unigestion’s long-term future and ensure it retains an independent Board of Directors.
- We aim to conduct our activities in a way that resonates with our core values.
- We try to reduce our environmental impact through buying green electricity for our offices, recycling extensively and subsidising the use of green transport where possible.
- We apply the same rigour to our company as we demand from others through our engagement activities.
- We adhere to the same rules that we advocate for the composition of our Board of Directors in terms of independence and governance.
- We promote education around responsible investment for our clients and our employees through dedicated webinars and educational sessions.
- We promote education around responsible investment for our clients and our employees through dedicated webinars and educational sessions.
Responsible Investment initiatives
Unigestion is proud to support the following ESG initiatives:
Initiative: UN Principles for Responsible Investment
Year joined: 2013
Objective: The PRI is the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. It works to understand the investment implications of ESG factors and support its investor signatories in incorporating these into their investment decisions.
Initiative: Swiss Sustainable Finance
Year joined: 2014
Objective: The leading Swiss association in the field of sustainable finance, fostering the transition to a sustainable and prosperous economy, and supporting the Swiss financial industry to achieve a leading global position in sustainable finance.
Initiative: Sustainable Finance Geneva
Year joined: 2017
Objective: A grassroots network of 400+ professionals and 50+ institutions in Geneva who are committed to building the financial system of the future – one that serves the needs of people and respects the planet.
Initiative: International Sustainability Standards Board (formerly SASB)
Year joined: 2021
Objective: The ISSB develops standards for a global baseline of sustainability disclosure, seeks to meet the information needs of investors, and enable companies to provide comprehensive sustainability information.
Initiative: UK Stewardship Code
Year joined: 2012
Objective: The UK Stewardship Code 2020 sets high stewardship standards for those investing money on behalf of UK savers and pensioners, and those that support them. The Code comprises a set of 12 Principles for asset managers and asset owners.
Initiative: LGPS Transparency Code
Year joined: 2017
Objective: Provide industry standard fee transparency for LGPS clients and prospects.
Initiative: Transition Pathway Initiative
Year joined: 2020
Objective: Provide research and data on the progress of financials and corporates in transitioning to a low-carbon economy, driving greater transparency and accountability for commitments to net zero and supporting those raising capital.
Initiative: Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge
Year joined: 2019
Objective: The Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge highlights the leadership of financial institutions that have implemented tobacco-free finance policies and encourages others to follow suit, denormalising financial and corporate associations with tobacco.
Initiative: ESG Data Convergence Initiative
Year joined: 2022
Objective: Seeks to create a critical mass of meaningful, performance-based ESG data from private companies by converging on a standardised set of ESG metrics for private markets, enabling companies to make further improvements.