Insights

Impax Asset Management

Authors: Lisa Beauvilain and Chris Dodwell

As an investor focused on the transition to a more sustainable economy, stewardship and advocacy are the twin levers that we can pull to help our investee companies navigate risks and opportunities and to influence change in the real economy.

For each activity, we define the stewardship inputs and actions that we believe will be most effective in achieving the outcomes we set out. Increasingly, we are looking to measure – and report – the real economy outcomes and impact of our stewardship and advocacy efforts, taking our first steps in this report.

Our efforts are becoming more coordinated and cross-cutting, especially in regard to what we call ‘systematic engagements’ which we have found effective in driving change in areas that have historically proven challenging. Here, we combine company engagement, policy advocacy and thought leadership with the aim of shaping companies’ practices through regulatory or policy change. We showcase two examples of our systematic engagements – focused on addressing physical climate risks and adaptation, and improving board diversity in Japan, respectively – in this report.

Our stewardship and advocacy work is focused on four overarching themes – Climate, Nature, People and Governance. For each, we report on our areas of focus in 2023 alongside significant activities involving our investee companies, peers and policymakers.

In the context of growing urgency to address environmental and social issues that pose systemic risks to all companies and investors, we are pleased to report on some of the successful outcomes and impacts from last year. Coordinated by the new Impax Sustainability Centre, we continue to commit ever more energy and resources to addressing these risks through our stewardship and advocacy activities.