Reviewing the past quarter, the theme of taking action on nature and climate challenges was high on our agenda, and a special section of our Sustainable Investment Review for Q4 2024 is dedicated to the topic.
Nature and climate in focus
As we detail in this edition, Storebrand was active at the recent COP16 Biodiversity Conference, championing the views of finance sector on solutions to support nature, and the role that private capital can play in those solutions. With COP follow up talks to be held in Rome at the end of this month, Storebrand Asset Management CEO Jan Erik Saugestad shares his opinion on the gap between current pathways business activity, versus what’s required for nature to be able to continue to support life and financial value creation. The section also features updates from our engagements with companies in our portfolios on climate and nature issues.
Active ownership and team profiles
Among other highlights of the quarter, Storebrand, represented by Head of Human Rights Tulia Machado-Helland, was invited to present insights on human rights due diligence at the 13th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights. In a related update, we offer a look at some of some of our efforts working with our peers active across the investment community, to reinforce awareness of, and methodologies for, human rights due diligence in the arms sector.
Machado-Helland is also the subject of this edition’s big interview, in which she relates her journey from early childhood in post-Franco era Spain, to the much-discussed US-Mexico border, and onto a career in sustainable investment.
Living wages, of the lack thereof, remains a persistent problem at many companies and within their supply chains. In this edition, we report on the completion of our 2024 cycle of engagement with companies on living wages and living incomes, though the PLWF platform.
As Storebrand has reintroduced its corporate management trainee program, we have the privilege of welcoming Sanjin Damjanovic to a rotation within our Sustainable Investments team. In a profile interview, Sanjin reveals the story behind his recent award from the BI Norwegian Business School, the reasons why he chose Storebrand, and his impressions so far as a trainee.
We also preview some changes to our engagement data reporting. Going forward in 2025, we’ll be adjusting our methodology for calculating number of engagements. The total number will appear to be smaller, but the overall picture of what we are actively working on, will become clearer.
Major exclusions
As is often the case, this quarter, we unfortunately took the difficult decision to divest from some companies, based on significant misalignment with our investment policies and standards. Among them was PDD Holdings, the parent company of internet retailer Temu. The exclusion was based on serious and systematic issues related to product safety; risk of forced labour; and potential liabilities regarding addictive service design. We also excluded the parent company of a major global palm oil supplier in Cameroon, due to risk of systematic violations of workers’ rights, among many other human rights problems. Palm oil is an ingredient present across the supply chain of virtually every industry, from foods to cosmetics, packaging, industrial chemicals and more.