Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund Impact Report
2024Our fifth annual Sustainability and Impact Report for our Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund demonstrates the fund management approach during 2024. It evaluates the positive impact the fund has made through both capital allocation and our active engagement.
“We are proud to launch our fifth annual Sustainability and Impact Report for our Charity Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund. We have seen continued growth in the number of clients committed to our sustainable strategy with an increasing number of charities, endowments, foundations, and Universities wishing to align mission and values with their investments.
Our transparent impact reporting has continued to evolve. This year, we have adopted the FCA's "Sustainability Focus" label under the Sustainability Disclosure Requirement (SDR) regime, which highlights our robust approach to managing the assets in line with best sustainability practices. We have also launched our charity partnership supporting three core areas to help further the impact of our fund.
We have been delighted to see our clients increasingly use our independently verified reporting to actively engage their stakeholders and supporters. We hope that our evolved fifth report continues this trend.”
Tom Montagu-Pollock, Co-Head of Charities and Fund Manager
Making a difference through collective investment and engagement
We strongly believe that our decisions around capital allocation and how we use our influence with the companies and managers we invest, can bring about real change in the world. This year’s report details the progress we're making in both areas, underscoring how we’re achieving our dual sustainability objective of meeting our financial goals but also investing to create a positive outcome for people and planet.
See below for some of the report’s key highlights:
Investing for impact
We’re delighted that 32% of the portfolio is contributing to solutions by supporting the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as assessed under our internal methodology¹. For more information on the impact created by the solutions we are allocating to, see pages 5 and 14-18 of the report. Please see the Important Information section below on how we’ve calculated the percentage of holdings contributing towards solutions².
Despite a volatile year for markets, we have maintained our long-term outperformance against the peer group. Over the course of the year the fund delivered a return of 8.5%, ahead of the peer group, as represented by the ARC Steady Growth ACI Index, return of 8.2%.
Please see Important Information below to understand how we’ve calculated our financial performance³ ⁴. To read more about our financial performance, read page 3 of the report, and keep your eyes peeled for the latest quarterly update.
Using our influence
We are committed to using our influence to push for progress. We engage both directly with companies we invest in and with fund managers whose funds we invest through.
As at the end of last year we engaged with 19 of the 38 directly invested companies owned. And engaged with 15 of the 16 actively managed funds across equities, bonds, alternatives, and cash. Please see Important Information below to understand how we’ve calculated our engagement⁵.
If you would like to read more about our engagement within the report, you can do so on pages 21- 23.
Annual sustainability and impact reports 2024
Read more about our estimated amalgamated impact achieved across all three of our sustainable flagship funds.
Contact us
To discuss your wealth management requirements, or to find out more about our services, please contact us below.
Important information
The SUTL Cazenove Charity Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund is referred to as the ‘Fund’ or ‘SMAF’ in the above reports and also on this page.
¹ Source: Cazenove Capital, Schroders and third-party fund managers of the underlying positions held in the Fund, where data is available. SDG classifications alignment to one or more of the UN SDGs based on Cazenove Capitals proprietary assessment.
² Data shown reflects the notional aligned outcomes calculated for the positions held in The Fund based on the value of assets as at the 31 December 2024. The positive outcomes are generated by the companies that we invest in and the users of their products and services, like the organisations that have helped improve access to healthcare, finance and education and the people who choose to switch to renewable energy. Investors in the SMAF are aligned with these outcomes by investing in a company’s activities generally but do not finance any particular activity, product or service that a company may undertake or make available. We use the most up to date underlying data available as reported by the companies and fund managers in which we invest to estimate these metrics, and apportion it according to our holding size. To illustrate the aggregated outcomes, we translate the outcomes into more meaningful comparisons using the following conversion ratios: over a decade, one tree captures and stores 60kg of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Source: EPA). Where data is not available estimates may be used. Metrics provided, in part by Net Purpose.
³ The sources of this information are Cazenove Capital and Lipper. Data to 31 December 2024. Inception 1 August 2018. Fund performance is shown in GBP and net of underlying fund fees and trading costs. A discretionary portfolio management fee and VAT may also be applicable. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.
⁴ ARC GBP Steady Growth ACI Index representing peers group returns.
⁵ Engagements are coordinated by Schroders and Cazenove Capital. Engagement figures may be subject to revision given ongoing quality assurance processes and delayed logging of engagements.