The 10x10 report
Part 2: Climate Change Investing

Who’s leading the way on investing for the E in ESG? What’s driving progress and innovation? What’s preventing it? And why is climate change a priority for some organisation and managers more than others? This report will look at climate-change investing with the objectives of both asset managers and asset owners firmly in hand.

The 10x10 Report—independently implemented by research consultant, Cerulli Associates—addresses these topics from the points of view of 10 of the world’s leading institutional investors. Those views are then contrasted with 10 of the world’s leading asset managers.

以上仅是该研究的概览。若想获取 
Climate Change Investing  的完整报告,
敬请联络我们的中国团队

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headshot of Kate El-Hillow, Chief Investment Officer

Kate El-Hillow

President & Chief Investment Officer, Russell Investments

Kate's Take

客户需求推动气候变化投资加速

这是10x10报告第二部分的一个关键发现,我们对此并不感到惊讶。我们相信,优秀的资产管理人会坚持不懈地专注于为客户服务。但这并不能让资产管理人摆脱困境。我们不能只是简单地对需求做出回应。我们还有义务在气候对投资乃至更广领域的影响上发挥领导作用。这就是为什么在罗素投资,我们承诺推动我们的全球投资组合达到净零碳排放标准。这项承诺——我们称之为 “2050 年净零排放(Net Zero by 2050)” ——建立在公司的既定目标之上,即建立具有长期可持续价值的投资组合,同时将气候变化日益增长的影响作为投资风险进行管理。与此同时,我们不仅将ESG理念纳入我们的投资流程,还将其融入我们的文化之中。因为我们相信这种综合性的方法可以提高长期成功投资的可能性。

在气候挑战面前,我们也看到了我们行业的一些亮点。我们近期发布的第七次ESG管理人年度调研(ESG Manager Survey),汇集了来自世界各地369名资产管理人的调查结果。根据我们的最新调研,82%的受访者表示,他们在投资过程中纳入了明确的定性或定量ESG相关考量,而2020年这一比例为78%。在近期关于ESG投资第二时代(Second Age of ESG Investing)的另一篇文章中,我们报告称,自2009年以来,S&P500指数和MSCI世界指数(MSCI World Index)的投资者,都看到其投资组合的加权平均碳强度减少了一半。

从ESG价值观的角度来看,这类趋势显然是好的,但从寻求回报的立场来看,这可能意味着,在这一领域获得超额回报的机会已经减少,区分赢家和输家需要更加积极主动的方法。为什么? 因为关于企业如何定位环境、社会和治理相关风险的知识如今已更加广为人知。我们把这称之为有效市场在信息方面的作用——如果每个人都知道它并且重视它,那就无法再获取超额回报。

那么,那些仍然希望获得强劲回报同时保持对ESG事务关注的投资者该何去何从? 有了要关注ESG相关因素的新共识,想要获取成功将需要专业知识、前瞻性思维和长期视野。换言之,驱动主动投资成功的技能仍然需要。我们坚信综合了管理人对所有投资策略前瞻性见解的多元化、主动管理的投资组合的价值,而ESG 投资也不例外。主动管理和积极参与将成为下一阶段ESG投资成功的基石。

我们认为,更着眼于未来考量的ESG方法,对于寻求增值的投资者来说是有意义的。但成功的投资并不容易。我们敦促您携手合适的战略合作伙伴,并且采用合适的主动管理策略。我们很高兴与您继续探讨。

About the 10x10 report

In 3Q 2021, Russell Investments held its annual Partner Innovation Lab, a roundtable event where large asset owners from various geographies brainstorm their greatest concerns and areas of interest. We asked Cerulli Associates to interview participating organizations, as well as some of our asset management partners, to extract individual perspectives on topics discussed at the event.

The result is a three-part series:

Participating institutional investors included the following corporate retirement plan sponsors, in alphabetical order: The Boeing Company, Fujitsu Global, Mazda Motor Corporation, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, Nestlé, Roche and Unilever. It also included the following non-profit investors: The New York Presbyterian Hospital, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Thomas Jefferson University.

Participating alternative asset managers included: Brevan Howard, Hamilton Lane and Oaktree Capital Management. Participating fixed-income asset managers included: BlueBay Asset Management and Western Asset Management Company. And participating multi-asset-class managers included BlackRock, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Morgan Stanley, Putnam Investments and Wellington Management.

气候变化投资趋势

根据10x10报告参与者的分享,与资产管理人相比,资产所有人在投资过程中采纳气候指标的方式更为多样化。一些管理人已经构建了专有的研究计划,利用他们的规模与资源,对气候计划提供更多的见解。在资产所有人当中,非营利组织在气候方面普遍进展更大。

投资组合亦用于帮助实现整个组织的气候目标。一些资产所有人试图通过投资组合来中和他们的碳足迹,比如投资于碳回收(carbon recapture)等技术。有些已经建立了单独的投资组合来做这件事情。资产管理人试图为客户提供这些类型的投资选择,并将自己公司的资金投资于多种技术。

From the experts:

white pencil

“Our engagements are about asking meaningful questions, and how to improve it. We often own a sizeable portion of our investments so we can influence things in that way.”

- Asset manager

black pencil

"[We are] engaging with investment managers to make sure that you are taking proxy and voting into consideration. Are they a) voting our shares, with respect to socially conscious initiatives and b) are they engaging with the companies?"

- Asset owner

投资组合亦用于帮助实现整个组织的气候目标。一些资产所有人试图通过投资组合来中和他们的碳足迹,比如投资于碳回收(carbon recapture)等技术。有些已经建立了单独的投资组合来做这件事情。资产管理人试图为客户提供这些类型的投资选择,并将自己公司的资金投资于多种技术。

气候焦点的催化剂

资产管理人告诉Cerulli,他们提升可持续投资能力的主要原因是外部客户的需求。管理人普遍认为,客户在采纳气候变化投资理念上负有最终责任。虽然资产管理人自己内部也采取了措施应对气候变化,但大多数管理人也会有某些不考虑ESG指标的客户,而作为受托人,他们必须以契合客户目标的方式进行投资。

另一方面,对于资产所有人而言,内部价值观是他们采纳环境指标的关键驱动力。有时这些内部价值观来自于投资办公室本身,有时则来自于组织的其他部门。此外,一些资产所有人之所以开始关注气候指标,仅仅是因为他们预测气候变化投资是不可避免的。

From the experts:

white pencil

"We saw that first being relevant in Europe, then Asia and now the U.S. The idea of investors using assets to sponsor initiatives that they believe in, relating to climate change, this is how I experienced that more over the years. [It] started in Europe a decade ago. Once investors start valuing that, regulation follows."

- Asset manager

black pencil

"ESG will be an important issue. It will become common to think about ESG factors for mutual funds in the future. Success in ESG products depends on whether the resolution of social problems using ESG will lead to firms’ business expansion."

- Asset owner

战略合作伙伴和专用资源

在收集、理解和处理气候数据时,往往面临巨大挑战。因此,资产所有人通常依赖中介机构提供指导。一家非营利组织解释称,该组织的投资顾问负责帮助他们执行ESG方面的考量与机会。一家公司退休计划发起人解释说,其与顾问一起为自己公司的养老金固定交款计划(DC plan)开发可持续的股票期权,以及设计合适的管理结构。另一位公司计划发起人告诉Cerulli,其顾问在收集和整合数据上发挥着关键作用。

参与本次调研的资产管理人表示,为响应ESG需求,他们已经建立了职能部门或分配了专门的资源来解决气候投资问题。若干管理人已聘请ESG负责人,协助制定框架并最终实现ESG政策的广泛整合。一些资产所有人也表示已经招聘了ESG负责人——尽管这种情况比较少见,因为投资办公室的规模往往有限。ESG负责人通常负责领导公司专门的气候研究工作,在某些情况下,ESG负责人还负责推动公司的多元化与包容性(D&I)工作。

From the experts:

white pencil

"I think they (heads of sustainability and diversity) are essential. It depends on what you want to do—do you want to approach it as an amateur? Or do you want to deliver expertise on these topics?"

- Asset manager

black pencil

"ESG was a special case. We really needed to have a specialist in that role ... my ESG person basically put up a grid that is now the standard approach. Before, everyone had their own opinion on it, so there was some initial pushback. I think it’s important to have that sort of expertise."

- Asset owner

气候数据

额外的挑战还包括,如此众多的公司,行业参与者很难找到口径一致的数据。随着资产所有人和管理人继续简化流程,他们可能要求美国企业提供与欧洲企业相同的要求披露的指标,最终可能形成一定程度的标准化。这个标准化问题还会延伸到ESG的定义,以及定义的缺失会如何影响数据与报告制度。

From the experts:

black pencil

"What’s the definition of ESG? You might get 10 answers from 10 people. Tesla—one vendor has them top quartile and [another] one had them bottom quartile. So where does that shake out?"

- Asset owner

white pencil

"We use a third party to measure carbon footprint, things like that. That will be the friction point—what are you measuring? Did you eliminate this amount of carbon, or provide food for this number of people? No one knows right now."

- Asset manager

纳入气候因素面临的障碍

最常被提及的执行障碍是监管障碍,特别是围绕经济因素的规定。美国公司退休计划发起人表示,他们之所以没有整合气候因素,是因为他们担心违反劳工部(DOL)的指导。

对于尚未采取措施的公司,主要原因之一是,他们不想将潜在的投资候选标的排除在选择过程之外。一家非营利组织告诉Cerulli,推动全球变暖的能源行业常常是必要的选择,他们不希望将整个行业排除在可投领域之外。

一家日本公司退休计划发起人也告诉Cerulli,对于为了气候倡议而限制投资选择,他们的计划参与者也普遍不感兴趣。

另一个阻碍充分纳入气候考量的因素是,如何看待被动管理资产的不确定性。一家将大部分资产配置到被动管理策略的公司退休计划发起人告诉Cerulli,排除法是其可以用于这些资产的唯一ESG工具。

From the experts:

black pencil

"ESG was on our project list last year, in terms of developing a policy or implementing specialized investment options, but until we knew where the regulations were going, we couldn’t justify focusing on it."

- Asset owner

black pencil

"A lot of our assets are passive, so exclusions are really one of the only tools we have in this area. While we have a mature framework, it’s not aggressive."

- Asset owner

结论

本项研究的一个关键结论是,气候投资方法的整合很少能够孤立完成。资产所有人在开始拥抱更广泛的方法时,倾向于与资产管理人或中介机构(顾问或外包CIO(OCIO))合作,而资产管理人通常开始于对客户特别要求的回应,而且拥有通常涉及与第三方数据供应商或专家合作的成熟的流程。总而言之,本次报告表明气候变化投资取决于战略合作伙伴。

以上仅是该研究的概览。若想获取 Climate Change Investing 的完整报告,敬请联络我们的中国团队

Request the report

Please kindly read our Privacy Policy first before you request the full copy of research. In requesting this information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy.