A European industry group including institutional investors, under the coordination of the French Sustainable Investment Forum, has launched a task force that looks to gauge the effectiveness of engagement on ESG issues, according to a news release.
Asset owners that are part of the initiative include the €50 billion ($52 billion) Etablissement de Retraite Additionnelle de la Fonction Publique, Paris, and the €20 billion Fonds de Reserve pour les Retraites, Paris.
Insurance firms Malakoff Humanis and Mutuelle assurance des instituteurs de France are also supporters of the FSIF project and will participate in the work of the task force.
The aim of the taskforce is to create concrete, standardized tools that can be used both by asset owners, as part of their direct involvement with companies and when selecting and monitoring asset managers and funds, and by asset managers as part of calls for tender, due diligences and, more generally, in their engagement reports.
These tools will also look to enable asset managers to report on standardized definitions and asset owners to better assess the ability and results of their asset managers to deliver relevant and impactful engagements. The task force also aims to address growing concerns about the current lack of standardization in the ESG space, and the difficulty of demonstrating the real impact of these initiatives.
“Engagement is an essential lever enabling responsible investors to exert an influence on the real economy. In fact, it is one of the ERAFP's main sustainability requirements for asset managers who manage dedicated funds on their behalf. Unfortunately, it remains difficult to measure and assess, particularly in the absence of common terminology and practices,” said Pierre Devichi, head of socially responsible investment at ERAFP, in the news release.
Asset manager members of the task force include AXA IM, with €844 billion in assets under management, the €149 billion AUM Candriam, and the Swiss franc 158 billion ($173 billion) Edmond de Rothschild AM.
