Responsible Investment at Aegon AM

The urgency for sustainable investing is higher than ever, and the financial sector can play an important role in this effort. In this interview, Brunno Maradei, Global Head of Responsible Investment at Aegon Asset Management, explains how he and his team ensure that their investment decisions contribute to this and the tools they use to do so.

ESG integration

ESG integration means incorporating financially material ESG factors into our investment analysis to better understand risk and uncover potential opportunities.

More on ESG integration >

Active ownership

Taking responsibility as an investor also means being an active owner. We have built a robust active ownership program that includes exercising shareholder voting rights focused on the best interest of our clients.

More on Active Ownership >

Responsible solutions

Our responsible investment solutions build on ESG integration to provide a range of investment capabilities designed to meet clients’ financial goals and objectives while allowing them to invest in a way that aligns with their values and views on responsible investing.

More on Responsible solutions >

Responsible Investment Report 2022

This report details the steps we have taken to ensure we continue to fulfil our responsibilities as active investors; to widen the choice of sustainability focused products for our clients; and to improve the tools and data we use to build portfolios, all while considering the environmental impact of our own business operations.

Sustainable & Ethical funds

Our responsible solutions build on ESG integration to provide a range of investment capabilities designed to meet clients’ financial goals and objectives whilst allowing them to invest in a way that aligns with their values and views on responsible investing.

Global Sustainable diversified growth

Global Sustainable Equity Fund

Global Sustainable Sovereign Bond Fund

Global short dated climate transition fund

ABN AMRO Aegon Global Equity Impact Fund

European ABS Fund

The investment objective is to maximise total return (income plus capital) over the medium term at a lower risk than global equity markets by investing in a diversified portfolio of global assets.

Launched on 21 April 2016, the Fund invests in innovative and disruptive companies that are providing solutions to today’s sustainability challenges. This is a high-conviction growth-focused portfolio of 35-45 companies, with the theme of sustainability running through each position.

The Aegon Global Sustainable Sovereign Bond Fund aims to invest in financially strong countries that contribute to the improvements in sustainability targets as defined by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We believe our actively managed portfolio offers investors strong capital-preservation characteristics and attractive yields. The fund is benchmarked against the ICE BofA Global Government Index.

The Aegon Global Short Dated Climate Transition Fund is a simple, liquid, and transparent short-dated bond strategy. It embeds proprietary climate transition research to direct investments to companies that have robust, credible plans to transition towards a low carbon economy and therefore are better aligned with investors’ net-zero goals. It adopts a best-in-class ESG approach to construct the portfolio with issuers who we have identified as having the best ESG categories, with the lowest ESG risks.

The strategy aims to provide long term capital appreciation through a conviction portfolio of 40-80 global high quality companies that generate measurable socio-economic or environmental benefits.

Climate change

Aegon AM is a member of the Net-Zero Asset Managers Initiative, a global coalition of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas (‘GHG’) emissions by 2050.

We support investments aligned with this net zero emissions target and are collaborating with our clients on decarbonization, helping them to achieve their own climate ambitions.

HELPING TO ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE

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Climate solutions

Through our sustainable and climate transition strategies, we are committed to investing in climate solutions and companies which are leading the transition to net zero.

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Investment restrictions

According to client preferences, utilize scientific research to air investment decisions where an activity or company's business model is incompatible with a low-carbon world.

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Though-leading research

The integration of climate change considerations into our investment research is supported by rigorous analyses and data.

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Active ownership

As active managers, we believe our role is to understand how companies will transition, track the credibility of their commitments, and engage with them to track progress. 

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Collaboration

We see value in collaborating with other like-minded investors and stakeholders to help our clients with their active ownership objectives.

 

Not all products are available to all investors or in all jurisdictions.  Strategies are generally offered through locally licensed affiliates.  The Climate Change Action Plan summarizes Aegon Asset Management's approach to responsible investing and active ownership across our fixed income, multi-asset and equities investment platforms within the various Aegon Asset Management affiliates.

Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations (SFDR) & EU taxonomy

SFDR is a major piece of EU legislation which sets out sustainability-related disclosure requirements for financial market participants such as Asset Managers.  These regulations aim to build trust in the area of sustainability and fight greenwashing, increase transparency and disclosure around sustainable finance products and investments and give investors more information to make informed investment decisions. For more information on how AIM has implemented the regulation from SFDR please review the Full Statement of Compliance below:

Full Statement of Compliance >>

Principal Adverse Impact Statement >>

Or watch our webinar where we discuss how SFDR & EU taxonomy are reshaping the way institutional investors approach their portfolios.

Articles

14.11.2023 | 5 min read | Brunno Maradei, CFA
20.12.2023 | 5 min read | Pravena Jawahar | Gertjan Medendorp
22.12.2023 | 4 min read | Irina Kurochkina

Responsible Investing Literature

All documents

PRI Assessment Report 2023

(1,38MB) PDF

Responsible Investment Framework

(445KB) PDF

Aegon AM Responsible Investment report 2022

(8,18MB) PDF

Active Ownership Policy

(747KB) PDF

SFDR Statement of Compliance

(384KB) PDF

Aegon AM NL Sustainability Risks and Impacts Policy

(402KB) PDF

Aegon AM Sustainability Risks and Impacts Policy for Multi-Management Funds

(465KB) PDF