Firm Announces 2023 Goal and Increase in ESG AUM
SOURCE: Invesco
DESCRIPTION:
ATLANTA, April 12, 2021 /3BL Media/ – Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ), a leading global asset management firm, announced today its 2020 Investment Stewardship Annual Report, which provides a detailed view into company engagements, including case studies, Invesco’s proxy voting approach and social equity and climate change focus areas. The report also outlines Invesco’s new commitment to integrate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into all investments by 2023. Currently, the firm has ESG integrated into 75% of its investments and aims to integrate ESG into 100% of all investments by 2023.
The report highlights that Invesco managed $34.5 billion in ESG AUM last year, up from $21 billion in 2019. Globally, Invesco manages more than 40 commercially available ESG dedicated products.
“The past year has been a time of uncertainty; however, our focus on corporate governance and being good stewards has not wavered. We continue to remain committed to engaging with clients in a meaningful way to help navigate short term challenges, long term risks and new opportunities,” said Cathrine de Coninck-Lopez, Global Head of ESG for Invesco. “ESG is integrated into everything we do, and it goes to the heart of the way we are working with our clients to realize the value they seek.”
The report is focused on Invesco’s ESG Philosophy, which can be broken down into three core aspects:
- Materiality: The consideration of ESG issues on a risk- adjusted basis and in economic context. Invesco does not view ESG aspects as constraints, aside from certain restrictions driven by legal obligations in certain territories.
- ESG momentum: The concept of improving ESG performance over time, is particularly interesting. Invesco finds that companies that are improving in terms of their ESG practices may enjoy favourable financial performance in the longer term.
- Engagement: Invesco takes its responsibility as active owners very seriously and sees engagement as an opportunity to encourage continual improvement. Dialogue with portfolio companies is a core part of the investment process for its fundamental teams. Taking advantage of Invesco’s scale, the firm often participates in board-level dialogue and is instrumental in giving shareholder views on management, corporate strategy, transparency, and capital allocation as well as wider ESG aspects.
The 2020 Stewardship Report highlights the Company’s key advancements in ESG since its last published report as well as impactful initiatives underway, including:
- Proxy Voting: Invesco’s Policy Statement on Global Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting (Global Proxy Policy) sets forth the framework of Invesco’s broad philosophy and guiding principles that inform the proxy voting practices of the firm’s investors around the world. Invesco takes its responsibility as active investors very seriously and views proxy voting as an integral part of its investment management responsibilities. Last year, Invesco voted in 10,399 meetings, on 247,465 resolutions across 74 markets. To leverage the engagement and deep dialogue of our active investors, our passive strategies will typically vote in line with the majority holder of the active equity shares held by Invesco. As a result, the impact of our vote is amplified giving our active equity managers even greater clout with their portfolio companies.
- Client Engagement: Engagement with company management and proxy voting play a fundamental role in Invesco’s efforts to help manage, protect, and enhance the value of Invesco’s clients’ investments. Therefore, Invesco may question or challenge a company about ESG issues that could have an impact on future value. Before and during investment in a company, many of the firm’s investment teams will engage with company management on a number of issues, including those that are ESG-related. As a result, Invesco held over 2,000 engagement meetings with companies during 2020 calendar year, an increase of over 100% compared with the prior one-year period. The top 5 topics for Global ESG team engagements and the percentage of meetings where the topic was addressed were as follows:
- Climate Transition – 44.25%
- Executive Compensation – 22.21%
- ESG Disclosure – 14.16%
- Diversity – 12.39%
- Human Rights – 8.85%
- Industry Engagement: Invesco is an active member and supporter of several external organizations as well as participants in various industry advocacy groups. Last year, Invesco became a signatory of Climate Action 100+, a partner of the Climate Bond initiative, a supporter of the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), a member of the One Planet Asset Managers (OPAM) initiative and signed the Confluence Philosophy Belonging Pledge to Advance Racial Equity.
- Climate Change is a key focus area for Invesco and its clients. Invesco has committed to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures and is part of the solution by supporting and investing in companies that are allocating capital towards the transition. In 2020, Invesco supported over 55% of shareholder proposals requesting that companies report on financial and physical risks of climate change on the company’s operations and requests for greater transparency regarding the company’s oversight, control mechanisms, and reduction goals of its GHG emissions, including methane emissions.
- Social Equity is another key area Invesco is passionate about. As a corporate entity, Invesco has global initiatives that include a Women’s Network, an LGBT Network and a Black Professionals’ Network, among others. Invesco is working toward a goal of having at least 35% female representation among our senior leaders by 2022 – we are currently at 33% globally. Invesco understands the need for greater diversity at the enterprise level and is continuing to increase our efforts at every level across functions at the firm.
- ESGIntel is a proprietary tool built by Invesco’s Global ESG research team in collaboration with our Technology, Strategy, Innovation and Planning (SIP) team providing ESG insights, metrics, data points and direction of change. ESGintel provides a way for Invesco to have a proprietary view on ESG risks and opportunities related to our investment companies.
The 2020 Stewardship Report can be found on the Company’s website.
About Invesco Ltd.
Invesco Ltd. (Ticker NYSE: IVZ) is a global independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life. With offices in more than 20 countries, our distinctive investment teams deliver a comprehensive range of active, passive and alternative investment capabilities. Invesco managed $1.3 trillion in assets on behalf of clients worldwide as of January 31, 2021. For more information, visit www.invesco.com/corporate.
KEYWORDS: NYSE: IVZ, Invesco
