Sustainable Investing
We undertake in depth analysis of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) credentials of every company we invest in.
We believe we can make the biggest impact by engaging with companies to address sustainability issues and drive positive change.
Companies that do not meet our minimum standard of sustainable practices are added to our exclusion list.
Milford’s approach to sustainable investing explained
Sustainable investing is
part of our heritage
As active managers, we have always undertaken detailed analysis to find the best companies, including their environmental, social and governance performance. This work is at the core of our investment decision-making process and we analyse the ESG credentials of every company we invest in.
As a result of this analysis, we can actively engage with each company to do better, improve their environmental and social impact and increase transparency.
We believe we can make a greater impact through engagement. While excluding certain investments avoids harm, it can ignore the complexity of ESG issues and miss some of the greatest opportunities to progress.
Sustainability is a team sport; we will not reach our sustainability goals unless all companies transition to a more sustainable future. Information detailing our recent engagement activity and outcomes is summarised in Milford Asset Management: Engagement Activity and Outcomes.
How do we engage with companies?
We have three layers of engagement with the companies we invest in:
Proactive
As part of our ongoing communication with company management teams and Boards, providing regular feedback on their approach, actions and reporting
Reactive
Via letters and meetings with Boards and management in response to particular events, for example major breaches of environmental or social requirements.
Governance
Through proxy voting; where we will vote against directors to highlight our concerns. We share our concerns with the Board and management.
Rolling 12 month count of
Milford sustainability engagements
More details about Milford’s proxy voting activity are available here. Note that holdings voted in person at AGMs are currently disclosed as “unvoted”. Please contact us if you require further information.
Active engagements for the 12 months to the end of September 2023
Proxy votes cast
Milford confirmed as leader by RIAA
Milford joins as a participant of Climate Action 100+
Milford is proud to become a participant of Climate Action 100+, an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change. Climate Action 100+ is made up of 700 global investors who are responsible for more than $68 trillion in assets under management across 33 markets. These large investors are ensuring the businesses they invest into cut emissions to help achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.
At Milford, we believe we are best able to contribute to the solution through engaging with the companies we own to improve their sustainability actions, targets and disclosure. We are excited to do this alongside likeminded global investors to help accelerate the transition to a more sustainable future.
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Grace O’Hanlon, Sustainable Investment Analyst, discusses the high risk of modern slavery in global supply chains.
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sustainable investment
Milford made a public commitment to explicitly and consistently incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into our investment decision making by becoming a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). Full details are available in Milford’s UNPRI Transparency Report.
Milford is also a member of the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) and a founding signatory to the New Zealand Stewardship Code.
In 2022, Milford was named a Responsible Investment Leader by the RIAA in their Responsible Investment Benchmark Report 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand.
There are more details about Milford’s approach to sustainable investing below. For additional information, please see our Sustainable Investment Statement.
*In 2020, Milford was awarded an A rating on four UNPRI modules including our overall Strategy and Governance and ESG Incorporation.
Investment exclusions
There are companies we simply will not invest in. These include companies that produce a
range of weaponry and manufacture tobacco or recreational cannabis.
We will also not invest in companies that fail our own ESG analysis or will not engage when we have identified the need for change.
Across all Milford funds we will not directly invest in companies involved in the following activities:
- Production or sale of anti-personnel land mines that are not compliant with the Anti-Personnel Mines Prohibition Act 1998
- Production, design, testing, assembly, or refurbishment of nuclear explosive devices
- Production or development of cluster munitions
- Processing of whale meat
- Manufacture of tobacco and alternative tobacco products
- Manufacture of recreational cannabis products
- Companies involved in the manufacture of civilian automatic and semi-automatic firearms, magazines or parts
Milford can use indirect investments for market exposure and hedging purposes. We monitor the extent to which these indirect investments have exposure to companies on the Milford ESG Exclusion List with a view to ensuring the exposure is no more than 1% in aggregate across all Milford funds.
