Responsible Investing

SJP Responsible Investing

We invest our clients’ money responsibly, focusing on long-term financial outcomes to deliver financial wellbeing.

What is responsible investing?

Responsible investing = ESG risks & opportunities + Engagement

Responsible investing shouldn’t be seen as a trade-off between doing the right thing and achieving long-term returns.

Instead, we expect our investment managers (the people that manage our funds) to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities as part of their investment decision making.

Our investment managers also regularly engage with businesses to hold them to account and ensure they are making measurable strides towards better practice, which we believe can have a positive impact on returns.

Our approach to responsible investing

ESG factors and why they are important

All companies have ESG risks and opportunities they need to consider. These factors will differ depending on a company’s size, industry and location.

Policies around climate change are vital for energy companies. Social media companies are increasingly having to enhance their cyber security and manage the social consequences of their services. There is increasing pressure for fast fashion companies to improve transparency around their supply chain and labour practices.

When putting responsible investing into practice, our investment managers consider how companies approach ESG factors when finding companies to invest in for the long-term.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.

How do we invest responsibly?

ESG integration

Minimum standards

Our investment managers should be signed up to the Principles for Responsible Investment. This standard ensures they are integrating ESG factors into their investment decision-making.

ESG monitoring

We formally assess our investment managers’ approach to responsible investment every year and hold meetings with them on an ongoing basis.

Stewardship oversight

We collect data on voting and discuss engagement on key issues with our investment managers.

Engagement

Our preference is to engage with companies rather than divest from them. We believe this will contribute to more tangible improvements across the economy, and better outcomes for our clients. There are five ways we do this:

Our investment managers’ engagements with companies

We expect our managers to monitor and engage with the companies in which they invest, prioritising the ESG issues they deem to be financially material.
Engaging with our fund managers

We set clear expectations for our fund managers during our selection process. We monitor them to check they are engaging with companies effectively on relevant ESG issues.
Our engagement partner’s engagement with companies

Our engagement partner, Robeco, supplements our stewardship activity by engaging with investee companies on a range of ESG issues.
Our direct engagement with key investee companies

Where we can, we will engage directly with companies. This may be in collaboration with our investment managers or other investors, and primarily focuses on the topic of climate change and decarbonisation.
Collaborating with the wider industry

We also work with collaborative groups, and other external partners to develop solutions across responsible investment, stewardship, client reporting and climate change.
We are proud to be members of:

We expect our managers to monitor and engage with the companies in which they invest, prioritising the ESG issues they deem to be financially material.

We set clear expectations for our fund managers during our selection process. We monitor them to check they are engaging with companies effectively on relevant ESG issues.

Our engagement partner, Robeco, supplements our stewardship activity by engaging with investee companies on a range of ESG issues.

Where we can, we will engage directly with companies. This may be in collaboration with our investment managers or other investors, and primarily focuses on the topic of climate change and decarbonisation.

We also work with collaborative groups, and other external partners to develop solutions across responsible investment, stewardship, client reporting and climate change.

We are proud to be members of:

Transitioning to a lower carbon economy

We joined the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance in 2020, making a public commitment to achieve net zero across our investments by 2050.* Every year we report the carbon emissions of our investment funds in our TCFD Product Report.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select, and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

*Net Zero commitment is based on Weighted Average Carbon Intensity and includes listed equity, publicly listed corporate debt and real estate only. Discretionary fund management assets are excluded.

Responsible investing in our investment proposition

We have a spectrum of approaches for clients and their different needs.

Core

We embed our responsible investment approach across all funds where we have direct control. We expect our investment managers to consider ESG risks and opportunities as part of their investment decision making.

Sustainable

Our Sustainable & Responsible Equity fund goes above and beyond our responsible investment approach for those wishing to do more. It has a UK Sustainability Focus label and an explicit sustainability objective.

Bespoke

Through our discretionary fund manager, we can create personalised portfolios from direct investment into companies and sustainable solutions. This approach focuses on investing according to a client's specific objectives.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place or Rowan Dartington may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.