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Fortis Investments launches innovative Environmental Benefits Investment Approach
Brussels, November 15th, 2006
Frankfurt / London. Fortis Investments today announced that its SRI (Sustainable and Responsible Investments) team has launched an innovative approach to quantifying environmental benefits in the management of environmental sustainability funds.
This new approach has been developed jointly by Fortis Investments and Trucost and builds on the increasing recognition that investors regard environmental impacts as costs. Initiatives such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, which is backed by investors with over USD 31 trillion of assets under management, have promoted the need for environmental impacts to be expressed in financial terms, thereby enabling proper assessment of how companies are managing their environmental impacts.
The Fortis Investments’ approach looks at environmental externalities from a different angle, focusing upon environmental benefits as generated by some companies, and their impact. An environmental benefit arises from an alternative technology that reduces the use of environmental services when compared to traditional technologies, thereby producing an environmental benefit equivalent to the costs avoided. Fortis Investments uses Trucost methodology to identify these benefits and applies them to an investment portfolio. This methodology assigns a monetary cost to environmental damages and thus allows a comparison of all environmental impacts. This provides a better understanding of which impacts are most significant and which clean technologies provide the most environmental benefits.
This framework will be used to quantify and value the positive benefits of sustainable environmental technologies in the areas of clean energy, water and waste and will be applied to the Fortis L Fund Equity Environmental Sustainability World fund. Investors in this fund will thus have a very clear idea of the funds real environmental profile.
This new approach is launched in tandem with an innovative environmental footprint calculator - www.footprint.fortis.com - that helps individuals understand the impact their daily life has upon the environment. Individuals are invited to calculate their environmental footprint on-line via a series of questions about their daily consumption patterns, to reduce their footprint by adopting recommended lifestyle changes and to counteract their residual footprint by investing in the fund. This footprint calculator is believed to be the first calculator that can translate a household’s environmental impacts into economic terms.
Stewart Armer, Head of SRI at Fortis Investments commented:
“We believe that investors deserve to know more about the real sustainability costs and benefits of the funds in which they are invested. This new approach allows environmentally conscious retail investors to make the link between their desire to act positively to solve sustainability problems and their need to earn investment returns on their savings”.
Simon Thomas Chief Executive at Trucost said :
“ The new Fortis Investments’ approach proves that Trucost’s method of quantifying environmental externalities can be used not only to show the cost of environmental damage but also to measure the positive impacts of those companies that are benefiting the environment. The fund and the calculator represent an excellent way for households to measure and understand their environmental impact. The use of monetary terms makes it easy for retail investors to understand how putting their money into funds which invest in ‘green technologies’ can alleviate their impact on the environment .”
| Press contacts: | ||
| Fortis Investments Lynn J Pattinson Sarah Marteleur Trucost Ashleigh Lezard |
Tel.: + 32 (0)2 274 84 66 + 32 (0)2 274 84 28 +44 (0)20 7321 3731 |
E mail: Lynn.pattinson@fortisinvestments.com Sarah.marteleur@fortisinvestments.com Ashleigh.Lezard@trucost.com |
Fortis Investments’ SRI Team
Fortis Investments Sustainable and Responsible Investments team is a dedicated unit made up of six SRI specialists. Based in Frankfurt, the team is responsible for a broad range of SRI products ranging from pure equity to pure bond SRI approaches. The unit manages the Oekovision Fund, a leading global sustainable equity fund, for Fortis Investments’ strategic partner, Versiko AG, a specialist provider of SRI fund products to the German market. In June 2006, an independent international advisory committee was set up to assure independent validation of the core SRI process. Fortis Investments has made a strategic commitment to SRI that will see the Frankfurt based team grow to eight-ten persons. Fortis Investments
Fortis Investments is a multi-centre, multi-product asset management company. As the asset manager of Fortis, Fortis Investments has EUR 116 billion of assets under management* with over 50% of its revenues generated by 3 rd party clients. Based in Europe, the company has a global presence, with both sales offices and some 20 dedicated investment centres in Europe, the USA and Asia. Fortis Investments offers international investment solutions, while meeting the requirements and needs of local investors, both institutional and wholesale retail. Employees number 811** of whom 224** are dedicated investment specialists. Activities range from institutional portfolio management to the development and management of mutual funds, such as the Fortis L Fund, which currently has some 116 sub-funds. Fortis Investments is a client-driven organisation using a disciplined investment process to satisfy its clients’ varied needs. *All figures per end September 2006
** Includes the Chinese JV, Fortis Haitong Tucost (www.trucost.com)
Trucost Plc is an environmental research business which helps companies and investors understand the environmental impacts of business activities in financial terms. Trucost offers expert advice and research to major corporations, both public and private, institutional investors and to Government departments and associated agencies. Trucost wrote the environmental reporting guidelines for UK business with the UK government, released in January 2006 and provided research and analysis.
Over the past six years Trucost has built up a database of the environmental impacts and disclosures of over 3000 major companies worldwide. Trucost’s database of climate change disclosures is the world’s largest. Trucost has developed unparalleled experience and expertise in the area of environmental performance, analysis and reporting, working with leading multinational companies in a range of business sectors including Avis, Bloomsbury, Christian Salvesen, Prudential, LogicaCMG, Legal & General and Land Securities Plc. Institutional investors use Trucost’s research to support due diligence and active engagement, incorporating environmental performance measurement into their investment decisions. Clients include Hermes, Henderson Global Investors, Fortis Investments and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. Institutional investors also use the information to assess the environmental footprint of their portfolios, and therefore better understanding their environmental risk.