Private Investor

Sustainable Funds Group - Articles, research and reports

  2. Sustainable Funds Group

    Ten years in emerging markets

    If the last ten years investing in emerging markets has taught us anything it is that in the long run, quality wins.

  4. Sustainable Funds Group

    Pacific Assets Trust - Q2 2021

    Highlights include significant Trust changes, proxy voting, our climate change statement and a company interview with Dr. Reddy’s on how they are making a difference through science and innovation.

  5. Sustainable Funds Group

    Quarterly Client Update - Q2 2021

    This client update provides strategy-specific portfolio changes and proxy voting details for the quarter. It also links to our latest articles and videos which explore our thinking on sustainable investment. Highlights include our climate change statement, the launch of our European Sustainability strategy, and company interviews with Dr. Reddy’s and Chr. Hansen on how their products and services are contributing to a more sustainable future.

  8. Sustainable Funds Group

    Climate change statement

    We launched our first sustainable investment fund in 2005. At that time we were convinced all companies would need to adjust to operating in an increasingly carbon-constrained world, and more companies would need to develop solutions to make economies less carbon intensive. Our conviction has never waned, nor has the urgency of the carbon-reduction challenge.

  15. Sustainable Funds Group

    Pacific Assets Trust - Q1 2021

    Update on significant portfolio changes and proxy voting along with an article on why payable days matter plus other trust updates.

  16. Sustainable Funds Group

    Quarterly Client Update - Q1 2021

    This quarterly update provides links to our latest articles and videos which explore our thinking on sustainable investment. Highlights includes a company CEO interview on the importance of culture and articles on the sustainability of an imperfect giant and why we believe Payable Days matter.

  18. Sustainable Funds Group

    Indian Subcontinent: The Decade Ahead

    The Fund did well in 2020, thanks in part to the generosity of central banks globally, while the real economy tried to shake off a pandemic. However, we believe that the real opportunity for investors in the subcontinent should be in the decade ahead. We are optimistic for two reasons.

  27. Sustainable Funds Group

    Company contributions to sustainable human development

    Since our first sustainable development-focused strategy launched in 2005, human development has been a key focus area given our long history of investing in Asia Pacific and emerging markets.

  28. Sustainable Funds Group

    The Future of Food and Sustainable Agriculture

    Agricultural techniques have changed dramatically over the last 50 years, particularly in more developed nations. More efficient farm machinery, genetic modification of seeds and the use of fertilisers and agrochemicals have all helped to increase crop yields significantly. However, while the industrialisation of farming has brought a multitude of benefits, it is also contributing to an array of unintended negative consequences, particularly for the environment.

  31. Sustainable Funds Group

    Through the Looking Glass

    In the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Alice climbs ‘Through the Looking-Glass’ and finds another fantastical world, absent of reason and where everything is reversed. This crisis of logic is all too evident when in investing in Asia Pacific.

  32. Sustainable Funds Group

    Fixing climate change measures

    If asked to list climate change solutions, many of us would start with renewable energy. It is obviously a key one given the use of fossil fuels for energy is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions globally.

  33. Sustainable Funds Group

    Investment strategies

    Since the launch of Stewart Investors first product in 1988, sustainable investment has always been an integral part of our investment philosophy and stock-picking process. At the heart of this philosophy is the principle of stewardship.

  34. Sustainable Funds Group

    Statement on racism and racial diversity

    We recognise the existence of inequality and institutional racism across the world – we share the horror felt by so many as we have witnessed events that highlight the inequality, prejudice and sheer injustice faced by members of the black community the world over.

  37. Sustainable Funds Group

    European Sustainable Finance Consultation

    Stewart Investors wrote to the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union in response to aspects of the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy.

  38. Sustainable Funds Group

    Active versus passive

    Growing investor concerns about climate and societal crises have contributed to the burgeoning demand for ‘sustainable investment’ funds that take into consideration environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

  39. Sustainable Funds Group

    Companies supporting the fight against COVID-19

    The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating personal and economic impact worldwide and there is an urgent need for governments, companies and individuals to play their part in helping to slow the spread, protect the vulnerable and minimise the human and economic toll.

  41. Sustainable Funds Group

    Asia Pacific All Cap Update

    Following our letter of 19 March 2020, we would like to provide further details about the transition of the Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Fund, as it becomes the Stewart Investors Asia Pacific and Japan Sustainability Fund. These changes officially take effect on 22 May 2020.

  42. Sustainable Funds Group

    Quarterly Client Update - Q1 2020

    Highlights include a commentary piece on active versus passive investment in achieving sustainable development, a company profile, an India trip report, and a feature article on companies supporting the fight against COVID-19.

  44. Sustainable Funds Group

    Implementing the Sustainable Development Goal 12

    The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a clear and vital framework around which investors and the broader business community can unite to achieve a collective goal of cleaner business practices. One goal which many investors and businesses are placing emphasis on is SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

  45. Sustainable Funds Group

    SEC Letter: Proxy Voting

    We have made a submission to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on proposed changes to proxy advisors and shareholder resolutions.

  46. Sustainable Funds Group

    Challenging the greenwash

    Our philosophy at Stewart Investors is to invest in ‘quality companies’ and our process for identifying them has incorporated a rigorous evaluation of ESG for over three decades. However, our analysis of ESG has never stood in isolation, and must be taken together with assessment of management, franchise and financials.

  47. Sustainable Funds Group

    Diversity update

    In 2019, we commissioned a research project with the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney to compile a set of recruitment and retention policies that have been implemented across geographies, industries, and organisations and can be tied to tangible improvements in diversity outcomes. This report, entitled Improving Gender Diversity, was completed a few months ago. It lays out a list of 13 tools that have been successfully used to recruit and retain women in organisations.

  48. Sustainable Funds Group

    Investing in Emerging Markets

    Emerging markets are usually seen as a risky asset class. News headlines in recent years of street protests, rapid currency devaluations and corporate governance blow-ups have done little to dispel these impressions.

  49. Sustainable Funds Group

    Tackling plastic pellet loss throughout supply chains

    As it is just over 12 months since we instigated the plastic pellet loss investor initiative, we thought we would take the opportunity to provide you with an update and summary of progress since our last update in March 2019.

  53. Sustainable Funds Group

    Small is beautiful

    This rule of thumb was coined in order to combat a common challenge facing teams trying to solve complex problems. In pursuits like investing, there is a tendency to increase the number of people providing input to the point that the team gets bloated and functions less efficiently.

  60. Sustainable Funds Group

    How we select companies

    We have often been asked how we narrow down a universe of 15,000 Asian and Emerging Markets companies to a portfolio of approximately 50. It’s a good question, particularly as now that we invest globally, giving us an investible universe of 65,000 companies, the challenge has become even starker.

  61. Sustainable Funds Group

    Dual Share Class Blundering

    We used to send letters to companies and stock exchanges extolling the virtues of single share classes, tag along-rights and ‘one share, one vote’. Today, we actively seek out companies with dual share classes. What has changed?

  63. Sustainable Funds Group

    ESG factors are fundamental to better portfolio outcomes

    Sustainability issues – climate change, global food shortages, water shortages, and poverty, as well as safety, management and governance scandals – are now daily news headlines. Sustainability is relevant to making any allocation of capital. It is not intangible; it can be assessed at all levels of an investment process to allow for identification of elements of quality as well as less obvious risk. Ensuring your investment process incorporate these sustainability factors all adds up to better outcomes.

  65. Sustainable Funds Group

    Tax Approaches

    We consider the tax rates paid by companies that we might invest in on behalf of our clients important because it impacts our assessment of Quality of Management, Franchise and Financials.

  66. Sustainable Funds Group

    The Sharing Economy

    Sharing resources has gone on for as long as humans have been living in tribes. But without the enabling role of the internet or mobile devices it is hard work in a large complex society with a myriad of goods and services. The internet is now helping to solve this problem.

  67. Sustainable Funds Group

    Green Bookkeeping

    In 2010, Puma pioneered a new form of corporate reporting. The German sportswear company produced an environmental profit and loss account, which estimated the company and its supply chain to have caused €145m of environmental damage that year, relative to €202m of net profit.

  69. Sustainable Funds Group

    The Circular Economy

    US clothing retailer Patagonia famously encouraged consumers not to buy their jackets in 2011...

  70. Sustainable Funds Group

    Alice in Financeland

    At first glance, there is little about the current financial system that makes sense. The more one looks, the less sense it makes. In theory the financial sector is supposed to support the long-term growth of the real economy. In practice, it has become so detached from the real world that it is more akin to a fantasy land, inhabited by a growing number of peculiar characters undertaking nonsensical tasks. Lewis Carroll’s Alice would be very much at home.

  71. Sustainable Funds Group

    The Plastics Paradox

    Plastic is wonderful stuff. It is lightweight, so less carbon intensive to move around. It is durable, mouldable and less energy intensive to make than aluminium or glass. It helps reduce food waste and decreases the risk of food contamination.