Understanding Responsible Investment #5 - The three characteristics of SRI 2/2
"Understanding Responsible Investment" Podcasts
Episode #5: "The three characteristics of SRI 2/2"
by our CSR expert Dorothée Chapuis,
Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Société Générale Private Banking Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland.
Interview with Paul Marouzé,
from LYXOR's SRI team.
Click on the button below to play.
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
Full Script:
Dorothée Chapuis: Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth episode of our "Understanding Responsible Investment" podcasts series. I am Dorothée Chapuis, Head of CSR for Société Générale Private Banking Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland, and I am with Paul Marouzé, from the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) team at LYXOR, the asset management company of Société Générale, more specifically in charge of shareholder commitment activities. With Paul, we will discuss two other characteristics of Socially Responsible Investment, which are firstly commitment and secondly transparency.
Dorothée Chapuis: Paul, tell us about what the notion of comittment covers.
Paul Marouzé: As a manager of listed shares, it means acting as a responsible shareholder, which encompasses two aspects: on the one hand, regular dialogue with the companies in which we invest, and on the other hand, exercising our voting rights as a shareholder. The first aspect involves dialogue with companies on their developments in ESG practices, going beyond what is made public in extra-financial reports. These exchanges can cover a wide range of subjects such as the company's governance and diversity policy, but also topics with more environmental connotations such as the company's climate strategy. The aim is to understand to what extent and by what means the company is on the road to improving its ESG practices. Beyond individual exchanges between the responsible investor and the company, shareholders can sometimes form a coalition to push certain companies to improve their practices, particularly on environmental issues. For example, this is what the Climate Action 100+ initiative, of which LYXOR is a member, proposes. This international initiative aims to mobilise and engage greenhouse gas emitters (CO2, methane, thermal coal combustion, etc.) in order to drive the energy transition and thus contribute to achieving the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement. These objectives aim to maintain or reduce global warming below 2%c by 2100. This form of collaborative commitment allows investors to have a greater say in the company's future.
Paul Marouzé: It's about using your right as a shareholder and this with responsibility. Remember that voting is a shareholder's duty under the European SRD2 directive (which in English means "Shareholder Directive n°2", or in French, "Directive du droit des actionnaires n°2"), developed after the financial crisis of 2008. An asset manager who invests in equities is in fact able, like any shareholder, to vote at the general meetings of companies. A responsible investor will therefore first of all try to define a policy and a voting perimeter. For several years now, voting policies have been evolving to include more and more non-financial considerations. According to this policy, the investor will vote in favour of resolutions improving corporate social responsibility, such as the appointment of independent directors to the Board, or the introduction of ESG criteria in the calculation of executive remuneration. On the other hand, they may vote against resolutions that are not in line with good sustainable development practices. At LYXOR, for example, we do not hesitate to vote against certain types of resolutions if the company does not disclose its greenhouse gas emissions. As regulations require investors to do so, the voting and commitment policy as well as a progress report on the implementation of these policies are published on the websites of responsible investors. Some investors go a step further by also making their votes public in full, which is the case for LYXOR in particular.
Dorothée Chapuis: And what is the second aspect of committment?
Dorothée Chapuis: Thank you Paul for this clarification. After thecommitment, let's now look at what transparency, the third characteristic of socially responsible investment, entails?
Paul Marouzé: The idea is to show how the responsible manager himself contributes to the change towards a more sustainable economy. Today, it is difficult for investors to position themselves as responsible if they do not publicly justify his actions. As we have seen, voting and commitment policies are made public. Similarly, more and more investors are now publishing extra-financial reports on their portfolios that include ESG data as well as information on the carbon emissions of the various assets that make up the portfolios.
Dorothée Chapuis: Thank you Paul, we have understood the different approaches to responsible management and what commitment is. But different approaches mean different choices if we want to invest in sustainable funds. What criteria should we base our choice on? This is what we will see in our next podcast. See you soon!
This podcast is part of a series of episodes proposed by Societe Generale Private Banking to understand responsible investment. It is available on the Spotify and Apple Podcast streaming platforms via the "#Private Talk by Societe Generale Private Banking" program and on our website www.privatebanking.societegenerale.com. Feel free to subscribe to be notified when the next episode is released and to spread the word.
Would you like to discuss this subject further with us?
Important information
The content provided on this page is for informational purposes only and is not contractually binding. The materials contained herein are not intended to provide investment advice or any other investment service and do not constitute a personal recommendation, advice, or an offer from Societe Generale Private Banking to purchase, sell or subscribe to investment services and/or financial products and/or investments in the aforementioned asset class. Some of the products, services and solutions described can carry various risks and involve the potential loss of the entire invested amount, if not theoretically unlimited loss. As such, they are reserved for a certain category of investors and/or adapted solely for informed investors who are eligible for such products, services and solutions. The information set out above shall not be considered legal, tax or accounting advice.
The wealth management and financial solutions, offers, products, services and activities mentioned on this page depend on each client’s personal situation, the legislation applying to them, and their tax residence. Consequently, the offer presented may not be eligible for implementation, adaptation or approval at all of the Societe Generale Private Banking entities and must comply with Societe Generale Group's Tax Code of Conduct. Furthermore, access to some of these products, services and solutions is subject to specific conditions, notably in respect of eligibility.
Please contact your private banking adviser to check that these offers meet your needs and are suited to your investor profile (knowledge, experience in investment, financial situation, including ability to withstand losses, and investment objectives, including risk tolerance).
Societe Generale Private Banking shall under no circumstances be held liable for any decision taken by a reader on the basis of this information. Before Societe Generale Private Banking can provide a potential investor with an investment service and/or a subscription to financial products, the investor must first be made aware of, understand and sign the related informative and contractual documentation, notably in respect of the associated risks (prospectus, Key Investor Information Document, Term Sheet, etc.). The potential investor must not base his/her investment decision and/or give investment instructions solely on the basis of this document.
All Societe Generale Private Banking entities reserve the right not to update or amend this document and shall accept no liability in this regard. The present document has the sole aim of informing investors, who will make their investment decisions without overly relying on this publication. The Societe Generale Private Banking entities shall under no circumstances be held liable for the accuracy, relevance or exhaustiveness of this information. The Societe Generale Private Banking entities give no explicit or implicit guarantees as to the accuracy or exhaustiveness of this information or of the profitability or performance of any asset class, country or market.
This document is not intended as a list or summary of all the terms and conditions pertaining to financial products, nor to identify all or some of the risks that may be involved in the acquisition and/or sale of a financial product/investment in any of the aforementioned asset classes.
The historical data and the information and opinions herein have been obtained from, or are based upon, external sources that Societe Generale Private Banking entities believe to be reliable but have not been independently verified. The Societe Generale Private Banking entities shall under no circumstances be liable for the accuracy, relevance or exhaustiveness of this information. Information provided on past performance, even repeated performances, is in no way a guarantee of future performance and may not be repeated. The value of an investment is not guaranteed and the value of investments may fluctuate. These forecasts about future performances are based on assumptions which may not be realised and do not therefore provide any assurance or guarantee with regard to the expected results of the investments in the aforementioned asset classes.
Generally speaking, Societe Generale Group companies may be market makers, conduct transactions involving the securities referred to on this page, and may provide banking services to companies whose asset classes are mentioned on this page, as well as the subsidiaries thereof. Societe Generale Group companies may, from time to time, conduct transactions, generate profits, hold securities or act as adviser, broker or banker in relation to these securities, or derivatives thereof, or in connection with the asset classes mentioned in this document. Societe Generale Group companies may, from time to time, acquire or liquidate positions on the securities, or the underlying assets (including derivatives), mentioned on this page or, where applicable, any other assets. Consequently, this may affect any returns for a potential investor either directly or indirectly. Societe Generale Group companies have no obligation to disclose this page or take it into account in providing advice or conducting transactions with a client or on behalf of a client. The administrative structure of the Societe Generale Group includes all safeguards needed to identify, control and manage conflicts of interest. To this end, Societe Generale Private Banking entities have implemented a conflict of interest management policy to prevent such conflicts of interest. For further details, Societe Generale Private Banking clients may refer to the conflict of interest management policy given to them by the Societe Generale Private Banking entity of which they are clients.
Non-financial analysis, also known as ESG analysis (Environmental, Social, Governance), is essential for evaluating a...
Joint interview, Croisine Martin-Roland, Head of Philanthropic Support, and Jean-Christophe Jouannais, Sustainable...
Key report
According to the Brundtland Report of 1987, sustainable development aims to meet the needs of the present without...
Sustainable finance is a concept that integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria into investment...