Bill Hartnett

Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has strengthened its ESG capabilities with the appointment of Bill Hartnett as an ESG Investment Director.

Bill will report to Euan Stirling, Global Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment and will be based in London with a specific remit to support investment colleagues in Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific. Bill will analyse specific long-term factors involving investee companies’ environmental and social management and performance, as well as the effectiveness of governance structures.

Bill has over 20 years’ experience of responsible investment and active ownership across roles in asset management, research and asset ownership. Immediately prior to joining ASI, Bill was Head of Responsible Investment at Australian superannuation fund, Local Government Super (LGS).  At LGS, Bill was responsible for ensuring that AUD 12 billion of pension assets were invested responsibly and achieving the maximum potential long-term, sustainable return.

Euan Stirling, Global Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment commented: “We are delighted Bill has joined our ESG Investment team, which is growing in importance, as we continue to move ESG considerations further up the investment agenda. As an active investment manager, engagement continues to be at the heart of our approach and it is important for us to influence the standards of governance.  With Bill’s depth of knowledge and experience, he is a strong addition to the team and will be invaluable in helping develop our expertise in Emerging Markets & Asia Pacific”

Commenting on his appointment Bill Hartnett said: “The opportunity to apply my experience with an asset manager that has such a strong heritage and commitment to ESG is extremely motivating.  I am proud to have developed sophisticated ESG-integrated strategies and an extensive and effective active ownership program in my previous roles.  I now look forward to working with my ASI colleagues to offer innovative ESG strategies to our existing and prospective clients.”

The ESG team is one of the largest in the industry, with a dedicated team of around 20 professionals and more than 30 specialists across the asset class teams.  We are committed to integrating ESG factors into all of our investment decisions because we believe that will ultimately generate the best long-term, risk-adjusted returns for our clients. Achieving this objective involves bespoke research, thousands of voting decisions and many engagements with companies and assets that we own directly.

The post Aberdeen Standard Investments strengthens ESG capabilities with appointment of Bill Hartnett appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Bill Hartnett

Local Government Super (LGS) is a founding signatory to the Green Bond Pledge which launched last week.

The Green Bond Pledge is an international declaration that all bonds financing long-term infrastructure and capital projects need to address environmental impacts and climate risk. It reflects the goals of the Paris agreement, and asks cities, county and state governments, and corporations to account for climate risk when designing future infrastructure and capital projects and consider financing them with green bonds.

LGS’ Head of Responsible Investment, Bill Hartnett said: “We’re proud to be the sole Australian signatory to the Green Bond Pledge. The objectives of the Pledge perfectly align with our philosophy for responsible investing. The Pledge is based on the premise that public and private sector bonds financing long-term clean infrastructure need to incorporate mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate impacts.”

“Local Government Super was the first Australian super fund to invest in green or climate bonds in 2012.  Since then our exposure to these assets, which provide bond like returns and are also specifically financing environmentally positive projects and assets, has grown to over $150m.  We have been very pleased with them – both for their investment returns and their sustainability impact – and by signing the Green Bond pledge we are encouraging further growth in the market,” Bill Hartnett said.

Other founding signatories include: US State Treasurers of California, New Mexico and Rhode Island; the Cities of Asheville and San Francisco – California; King County – Washington; and financial firms, Global New Energy Finance and R3 Returns.

Climate Bonds Initiatives CEO, Sean Kidney said: “The foundation signatories are to be congratulated. By signing the Pledge, they are opening another path for much needed linkage between sub-nationals and corporate climate goals and their financial balance sheets and investment plans.”

LGS recently announced it had awarded a fixed-income ESG mandate to investment manager, PIMCO. Under the mandate, PIMCO will manage approximately AUD $440million across global credit and government bonds, integrating environmental, social, and governance considerations in its investment practices.

LGS has been widely recognised for its commitment to responsible investment:

• Number one ranking globally for the management of climate change in the 2017 global Asset Owners Disclosure Project
• Named Australia’s Best Green Super Fund for the sixth time at the 2018 Money magazine ‘Best of the Best’ awards
• 5-Star Green Star rating for the performance of the LGS direct property portfolio

The post Local Government Super is the sole Australian signatory on the Green Bond Pledge appeared first on AdviserVoice.