Liontrust Sustainable Investment Engagement and Voting Annual Review 2021 - Flipbook - Page 14
2021 Initiative
Description
We said we would:
Reversing the
collapse in
biodiversity
• Increase the scope of
We will engage with
this initiative to speed
companies in our
up the transition to a
funds exposed to key
circular economy more
biodiversity impacts
widely, rather than just
either in their direct
focusing on plastics.
operations or through
their supply chains. We
• Explore approaches
will encourage these
beyond company
companies to do more
engagement to reduce
to protect and promote
the burden of plastic
biodiversity, and to invest
pollution.
in nature-based solutions
and technologies. We
aim to collate examples
of best practice and to
see improvements in
policies and practice
that show how business
can thrive alongside
enhanced biodiversity.
In 2021:
In 2022, we will:
• We did not make
good enough progress
on this initiative but
towards the end of the
year set a strategy to
address this in 2022.
• Create a new focus
on Preserving and
restoring nature.
• Encourage investee
companies to report on
natural capital impacts
from their activities,
products and services,
and gauge the level
of preparedness for
increased reporting,
such as the Taskforce
for Nature-related
Financial Disclosures
(TNFD).
• Encourage investee
companies to
adopt policies and
programmes that
preserve and restore
nature and promote
biodiversity.
• Explore new tools
to better understand
companies’
dependencies on
natural capital and
how this might impact
financial returns.
• Explore collaborative
engagement, such as
the Biodiversity Pledge.
Case study: Downing Renewables and Infrastructure Trust PLC
Held under our Increasing
electricity from renewable sources
theme, Downing Renewable
and Infrastructure Trust is a fund
that owns renewable electricity
generation assets such as wind, solar and micro-hydro power, and
plans to invest in Geothermal power. These types of funds play a
crucial role in owning renewable assets, which are displacing higher
carbon alternatives off the electricity grid and therefore helping us
move towards an ultra-low carbon economy.
We clarified the company’s small hydro assets in Scandinavia
and how they are managed. These are small, ‘run of the river’
assets, which are well established (some having been in existence
for 100 years) with ecological systems around them. Downing is
participating in the Swedish Nation Plan to maintain these assets,
reducing the negative impacts through the addition of fish ladders
and other best practice solutions. This meeting gave us confidence
that these assets are suitable for the SF funds and we took a position.
All use of company logos, images or trademarks in this document are for reference purposes only.
14 - Liontrust Sustainable Investment: Engagement and Voting: Annual Review 2021
