Responsible investment

It is only by working with multiple stakeholders that you can deliver a positive impact – be they governments and central banks to charities and customers. Our work to tackle the climate emergency is one of the examples of how we do that.

We believe that accelerating environmental damage from climate, deforestation, ocean pollution, and loss of biodiversity all pose significant risk to economies and the corporate bottom line.

The The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) initiative is a great example of what can be achieved when stakeholders across civil society, business, governments and consumers connect their thinking and collaborate together to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Understanding how economies transition to a sustainable future is more than just an ESG score. Our ESG insights are developed through connected thinking across asset classes: from the macro view to a company profile, and from how we see the world to how we view a sovereign, a sector or a company.

We created the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark in 2013 with a view to use the competitive nature of markets to challenge companies to embed human rights in their organisation. 6 years on the benchmark is widely supported by companies, governments, investors and civil society. This is our update for 2019.

Nearly a third of all natural World Heritage sites are subject to extractive activity, despite protection from the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Following a number of successful engagements on this topic, including SOCO International and BP, we helped to launch a collaborative project to call on extractive companies to make ‘no go’ commitments in World Heritage sites.

In 2017 Aviva Investors’ Chief Responsible Investment Officer Steve Waygood was invited to become a member of the European Union High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG).

A big part of integrating ESG into our investment decisions is making sure that it is embedded across the investment process. Two ways of doing this is our Responsible Investment Officer Network and the integration of ESG into the way investment team members are remunerated.

Responsible Investment and ESG have traditionally been biased towards liquid assets such as equities and bonds. There are several reasons for this, including the weight of assets under management, availability of information, and the rights and access provided to shareholders.

The issues related to antimicrobial resistance and spread of drug-resistant 'superbugs' pose serious risks to public health and the business landscape. We have engaged with our investees to discuss their strategy on antibiotic resistance.

Will a world beset with challenges spin into catastrophic breakdown or spur humanity to change and reach new heights? John Elkington, widely regarded as the ‘godfather of sustainability’, contemplates the future with AIQ.

In the latest instalment of our visual series on topical data themes, we look at the latest IPCC report, the significant decline in US real yields and people’s live TV versus streaming habits.

Nearly three decades after it first agreed to tackle climate change, the world has failed miserably to curb the growth in CO₂ emissions. To succeed, it urgently needs to establish an effective price for carbon.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report brings together conclusions from the latest scientific studies on the climate system. Aviva Investors’ climate specialist Rick Stathers assesses the evidence and the implications for investors.

Heavy industry and heavy transport are hard to decarbonise, but this must be done to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Can companies, policymakers and investors join forces to make it happen? The race is on…

The trend towards selling goods and services directly to consumers is transforming consumer brands and the world of shopping. Companies are learning how to interact directly with consumers, using new marketing techniques and a vast amount of data to influence their behaviour. However, the relationship between brands and consumers is fragile, and allowing trust in a brand to erode can be fatal.

Asset managers need to dismantle hierarchies and promote diversity of thought if they are to future-proof their businesses. They can learn valuable lessons from tech companies, military leaders and even ancient philosophers, writes Apiramy Jeyarajah.

A shake-up in company reports and accounts to consider companies’ environmental impact could radically alter the way they are assessed, argues the influential political economist and accountant.

In this month’s instalment of ‘What does the data say?’, we look at the incredible rise of Dogecoin, Nike’s direct-to-consumer strategy and the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.

As the world continues to grapple with the health implications of COVID-19, unintended consequences were inevitable. In this data-led story, we look at the effect the pandemic has had on global plastic wastage and what policymakers can do to tackle the issue.

Some of the world’s biggest companies are setting ambitious net-zero targets, with significant implications for their supply chains. How impactful could the ripple effect be in helping to meet the goals set out in the Paris Agreement?

In a wide-ranging interview with AIQ, the former UK minister of Energy and Clean Growth explains why the private sector needs a seat at the negotiating table if the world is to solve the climate crisis. Words by Miles Costello.

Technology firms are often favoured by ESG funds because of their ostensibly clean, asset-light business models. But investors need to look deeper and challenge unethical and unsustainable practices across the industry, argue Louise Piffaut and Charles Devereux.

No single technology is enough to tackle the climate crisis, a global and systemic issue that requires joined-up thinking. We flag different pathways to address warming gases in the atmosphere – five nature-based and five technical – and ask what steps are needed next.

The tech-driven trend toward direct-to-consumer is transforming consumer brands, their intermediaries and their marketing. Intimate relationships with customers and new shopping experiences are alluring, but companies must tread a fine line between hyper-personalisation and intrusion.

Like Washington and Brussels, Beijing is worried about the growing power of large technology companies. But China’s regulators are taking swifter, more radical action than their peers in the West.