Engagement Report

2024

To navigate this fast-changing world, and to protect and grow our clients’ capital, we believe it’s essential to be active owners.

In the investment space, this means engagement with the companies we invest in and using our influence to help companies adapt and thrive. It has long been an important part of our investment philosophy and is key to our Climate Transition Action Plan – how we intend to transition our assets under management to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

Active Ownership, approached thoughtfully and with focus, helps management teams adapt to a changing world, strengthens the long-term competitiveness and value of their businesses.

Our active ownership over 2024

We categorise our engagements into the six themes, aligned with Schroders’ "Engagement Blueprint.” These themes are focused on the sustainability issues that we consider most material to the long-term value of our investments.

Our Wealth Management Engagement Report details our engagement activities in the previous financial year.

Key highlights for our 2024 engagement have been:

We surveyed over 200 managers on their firm-level Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials and engaged with managers to encourage improvement of ESG practices across the asset management industry.
60% of the ‘laggard managers’ we engaged in 2023 saw improvements in their firm-level scores in 2024, and 25% are no longer classified as a priority for engagement due to improvements in their ESG credentials.
We sent an open letter to 73 listed equity and credit managers setting out our firm-level expectations around net zero, which as at the end of 2024 garnered 19 detailed responses and 5 follow-up meetings.
In our sustainable models, a further nine funds now have a strategy-level net zero commitment, with a further five in discussions to implement one.
We engaged with 28 managers to disclose the diversity of their investment decision makers held in our sustainable models, as well as committing to disclose the diversity of our investment committees that manage these portfolios in our annual sustainability and impact reports.
We engaged with 6 companies to push for change on a specific outcome, focusing on climate and nature topics aligned with our firm-wide decarbonisation and deforestation-related commitment.

“As an active investment manager, we are committed to using our voice as investors to better protect and enhance the value of our clients’ investments. With our scale, we have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to make a difference by engaging thoughtfully with the managers we invest with, strengthening the long-term competitiveness and value of assets to help our clients meet their financial goals.”

Chloe Mallo

Investment Director