As so often, it has been an eventful period. A notable landmark was achieved early on during the quarter, when we were delighted to be formally named by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) as a 2025 signatory to the UK Stewardship Code, an established global benchmark which represents strong third party recognition of our commitment to stewardship, transparency and accountability.
Focus on alternatives and conflict
Alternatives have been an important area of focus in our work on driving sustainable investment solutions, which our CIO Dagfin Norum writes about in the Solutions section of this report. Another has been the rapidly expanding risks related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. We provide, in the Active Ownership section of this report, an update on our risk screening process in the region. CIO Bård Bringedal also provides a perspective on how we view and exercise our stewardship responsibilities, which you can read about in the Exclusions section.
Unintended consequences
With impending changes to key EU sustainability regulations, we have been active - in collaboratrion with other engaged investors - in communicating our point of view to EU legislators. In this issue, our Senior Sustainability Analyst Vemund Olsen, zooms in on deforestation regulations and some of their unitended consequences.