Responsible investment

We invest pension assets profitably, securely and responsibly. We shoulder our responsibility for pension assets and for the adequacy of the financing of the pension system by ensuring the return generated by the pension assets and our solvency.

We consider ESG factors extensively in our investment activities: aspects affecting environmental (E), societal and social factors (S) as well as good governance (G). Responsible investment is a crucial objective for us as a long-term investor and pension company, because the investment decisions we make impact the operational prerequisites of the companies we invest in.

In our investment activities, we seek to identify risks and investment opportunities on a comprehensive basis, and the responsibility aspect is one element in this examination. Responsible investment is our way of seeking to secure the long-term return of the investments while also being a means to ensure that risks and opportunities are considered in investment decisions as extensively as possible.

The framework for responsible investment at Veritas consists of our Principles for Responsible Investment, Climate Policy for investments, along with our Ownership Policy. In addition to this, we have signed the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and report on the activity level of our investment activities to PRI annually. We have been a signatory to PRI since 2012.

We have integrated responsible investment as part of our investment activities and it is, therefore, reflected in our practical everyday activities, when making our investment decisions. Furthermore, our Sustainability Manager gives an ESG review regularly, to ensure the entire investment team is kept abreast of topical ESG themes.

Active ownership and impacting

We believe in active ownership and engagement. We seek to engage with our investee companies and asset managers for example in an effort to mitigate climate change. We participate in numerous collaborative engagement initiatives and we engage in regular dialogue with our portfolio companies in the sphere of climate considerations. For instance, we regularly send our external asset managers an ESG survey, charting out how various responsibility factors are being taken into consideration in investment activities. In this survey, we particularly emphasise climate considerations. Furthermore, we encourage our investee companies to report in accordance with the TCFD. Further information on engagement and our active ownership can be found in this report under the section Ownership policy.

Collaboration with other investors

In addition to PRI, we have also signed the Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century and the Climate Action 100+ initiatives. We are members of the CDP community, as well as of Finland’s Sustainable Investment Forum Finsif.