Ethical Partners was grateful to the PRI for the chance to be involved in this conference as a boutique investment manager given the PRI’s view on our leadership, active responsible investment activities and our high scores in the recent PRI assessment reports. We were pleased to talk on this panel about our active involvement with the PRI through many collaborative initiatives. These include our involvement in the PRI’s Framework for Impact papers, our membership in the Global Policy Reference Group, our active involvement in Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative and our membership of the PRI’s fair taxation and circular economy working groups. Also for our other collaborative engagements on mental health, SDG’s, biodiversity and Covid response and our involvement in the new PRI Advance Human Rights initiative. We were also able to speak about our philosophy on engagement and advocacy and of continual learning as well as our recent research with UNICEF on Child Rights which the PRI will be helping disseminate to their global signatory base in 2023.
The conference itself was an inspiring experience and Ethical Partners was proud to be amongst so many investors talking about accelerating action towards tackling the urgent and critical problems facing the world today. The highlight for us was being invited to be involved in the Sustainable Finance Policy Conference the day before the main conference. Seeing at least seven global regulators covering the majority of the world’s listed market capitalisation clearly showing the rapidly rising tide of policy action and regulation globally.
UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association
While overseas, Ethical Partners was also able to meet with the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association in London and to hear about their leading work in working with policy makers to drive forward the growth of sustainable finance in the UK in areas such as the development of a UK green taxonomy and their proposed sustainability fund labels and disclosures frameworks, mandatory climate transition plan disclosures, investor stewardship frameworks, just transition commissions, as well as the continued action on these matters despite the temporary energy crisis and geopolitical events in Europe, and the continued certainty that these events will only serve to accelerate the energy transition underway.
In this vein, Ethical Partners has also been pleased to see the Australian Government’s announcements over the last few days regarding the Australian climate risk disclosure framework consultation, increased support for an Australian Sustainable Finance taxonomy and the development of a whole of government sustainable finance strategy. This is something that we have been actively engaging with the government on through our involvement in the IGCC’s Policy and Advocacy working group, our conversations with Treasury and Cabinet, our feedback on various consultations and parliamentary inquiries, with ASIC and APRA and with the PRI’s Australian policy team.
We were also able to meet with several companies, including BHP, RIO, Brambles and the Macquarie Green Energy Group, with whom we discussed a myriad of human rights, social, environmental, biodiversity, circular economy and governance issues.
