The year 2022 was another active year in the sphere of responsible investment. We exerted efforts towards the actualisation of our responsible investment targets and continued to improve our ESG analysis. During the year, we conducted an ESG survey among our external asset managers, allowing us to chart out, for instance, climate-related risks and opportunities as well as the asset managers’ commitment to the climate goals. We were delighted to discover that as many as 62 per cent of our asset managers had a climate policy in place, while in 2021 the corresponding portion was 43 per cent.
Results of the ESG survey
| 2022 | 2021 | |
| Number of respondents | 42 | 47 |
| Response rate | 71% | 94% |
| ESG policy | 86% | 89% |
| PRI signatories | 83% | 83% |
| Climate policy | 62% | 43% |
| Carbon footprint calculation | 64% | 47% |
| Carbon neutrality target | 36% | - |
Active ownership and engagement are a key component of responsible investing. Our primary goal, indeed, is to support positive change within companies and only as a last resort to exit a company, in case engagement does not bring about the desired result. During the year, we engaged in an active dialogue with companies on sustainability issues and discussed, for instance, how sustainability has been integrated into corporate strategy and business operations.
We also continued to influence through collaborative engagement initiatives. Through CDP’s Non-Disclosure Campaign, we influenced companies to report on climate change, and with The Investor Agenda, we are influencing countries to set more ambitious climate goals. Similarly to 2021, we were also involved in CDP’s Science-Based Targets collaborative initiative. Furthermore, we participated in numerous international events and panel discussions with other investors in the field and published blog posts on the burning sustainability themes of the day. Our portfolio managers also devised a video on greenwashing in investment activities, based on extensive experience in the responsible investment practices of various asset managers.
We monitor the actualisation of responsible investment annually by reporting to PRI. Based on our reporting, PRI assesses our performance in responsible investment activities and scores our activities. In 2021, the reporting framework, along with its reporting tools, scores and assessment criteria were completely reformed. As a result of same, PRI communicated that owing to the deficiencies in the reporting tool, there would be no reporting for 2022 at all, and the next reporting to PRI would not take place until 2023. Consequently, there are no key figures to report for 2022.
Target 4: We are developing our investment activities towards an increasingly responsible direction
| Baseline 2020 | Actualised 2021 | Target 2022 | Actualised 2022 | Target 2023 |
| Two scores under the median | One score under the median | All scores no less than the median | No assessment by PRI | All scores no less than the median |
Year 2023: sights towards biodiversity and expanded ESG analysis
In 2023, we are continuing our work in relation to responsible investing and keep a close eye on the developments of responsible investment in the markets. In the past few years, we have detected that biodiversity has been increasingly brought to the investors’ agenda alongside climate change. The analytical methods currently in use continue to be somewhat deficient, and particularly dilemmas pertaining to the data and the analytical methodology applied often require further work. Additionally, there are various meters and indicators concerning biodiversity loss. The indicators are not comparable and converting the analyses made on the basis of same into monetary outcomes is difficult.
In December 2022, the nations of the world convened in Montreal, Canada, for the UN Biodiversity Conference, where new international goals and indicators were resolved upon for the conservation of biodiversity. The goal is to consider biodiversity in all decision-making and in all areas of society. This also requires policy and reporting work from us as investors, and we are closely monitoring the development of reporting frameworks and indicators. We are also exploring opportunities for cooperation with other investors to halt biodiversity loss and develop reporting, for example through collaborative engagement initiatives.
Alongside biodiversity, our goal is to expand our climate roadmap and climate reporting during 2023. We aim to collect an increasing volume of data from more asset classes so as to develop our operations. We are also working more generally with ESG data to obtain a more holistic overview of our investment portfolio.