ESG in real assets

We believe that fully integrating ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) into the investment process leads to better and more resilient performance, and that sustainable investment is central to successful long-term investment outcomes. It is therefore a key part of our beliefs and investment approach.

Once a sustainable investment strategy has been established, a challenge that often arises is measuring the actual impact on investments which has generally been difficult. Further, it can prove challenging for investors to articulate an impactful ESG strategy in traditional listed assets, such as equities and bonds, where the challenges of delivering real-world changes are often significant.

The increased popularity of ESG means the vast majority of companies or asset managers will showcase a plethora of initiatives. But what impact are they having? And are these initiatives actually embedded across the organisation and within the strategies? These initiatives need to go beyond simply being a box-ticking exercise, marketing campaign or compliance requirement.

We demonstrate in the below paper how we integrate sustainability and ESG into our real assets research, aiming to provide higher and more resilient returns. We show that real assets can not only provide investments that fit within a well-established ESG strategy but also how it can facilitate ongoing measurements of real-world impacts given their physical nature. There is also an actual example of a recently rated investment.

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