Sustainable Investments

Sustainable investing aims to invest in companies that meet social, environmental as well as financial performance criteria. AMP Capital is one of the pioneers in Australian sustainability research and investment, raising sustainability investment to a more sophisticated level by:

• integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) research into the investment decision making;
• utilising an experienced research team along with financial specialists to manage our Sustainable alpha style portfolios;
• seeking out the value in companies through their intangible assets, revealing a wider range of corporate growth drivers and risk factors; and
• exhibiting transparency and actively engaging with portfolio companies to ensure social and environmental standards are maintained.

We believe that this approach provides an attractive investment proposition to investors - one that facilitates competitive returns and helps provide a sustainable future.

Transparency and engagement

A key feature of our methodology is regular meetings with companies to openly discuss issues which we believe are important for the company to maintain its sustainable investment status. It involves constructive engagement with managing directors and key staff to encourage them to improve the company’s social, environmental and governance performance. Transparency is important in ensuring our investors understand the investment decisions we make. To this end we publish:

• a complete portfolio listing of companies we invest in
• regular research and position papers; and
• our company and issues engagement (which is reported in our newsletters)

AMP Capital also vote at company annual general meetings, taking ESG issues as well as financial issues into consideration. More information about our voting policy for the AMP Capital Sustainable Share Fund can be found in our Corporate Governance Policy.

SRI industry certification

The integrity of a Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) fund is a key issue for investors. Therefore verification and certification is important when comparing SRI investment products. The AMP Capital Sustainable Share Fund has been independently certified under the Ethical Investment Association’s SRI industry certification program. Certification means that we:

• apply a systematic SRI methodology in selecting stocks;
• disclose our funds performance and stock holdings;
• have undergone independent verification to ensure that our systems, processes and procedures reflect the SRI methodology outlined in our Fund's Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).