Article

ESG initiatives: selective but effective collaborations

January 2022

Key points

Baillie Gifford has a long history of working with others to address ESG issues ranging from environmental impact disclosures to tax reporting standards, but we pick our engagements with care.

Please remember that the value of a stock market investment and any income from it can fall as well as rise and investors may not get back the amount invested.

 

Environmental, social and governance issues have never been more important. Baillie Gifford recognises the benefits of working with others to address them. We want to be ambitious, but we also need to proceed with care. There’s a burgeoning number of ESG initiatives within the asset management industry, and we must consider the long-term impacts they could have on our clients. Simply scrambling to collect lots of badges or stamps of approval would do those clients a disservice. 

Building productive relationships takes time. For instance, Baillie Gifford has been a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) since 2002 and we continue to be an investor signatory. This provides us access to the data it gathers on companies’ environmental behaviours as well as regional insights. In late 2020, we became one of the first to subscribe to the CDP’s new temperature ratings methodology, which it developed in conjunction with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This will help us research the quality and consistency of company efforts to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

We also became an official supporter of the Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2020, and we encourage our holdings to follow its guidelines when drawing up their own environmental reports. Baillie Gifford holds itself accountable to the same standards, and published its first firm-wide TCFD report in March 2021. LTGG is now in the process of producing its own TCFD report, specific to our clients’ portfolio. 

The attention our industry is now giving to climate change is a welcome, albeit belated, development. But climate responsibility is only one aspect of ESG. And we are engaging in other elements to benefit our clients. 

One example includes joining a global reporting initiative roundtable hosted by the Investment Association. Discussions have covered tax reporting standards and working with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board to settle on universal reporting requirements. These aim to make it easier for companies to report their sustainability metrics while avoiding different regional initiatives that add complexity. 

We also joined a roundtable on pay ratio disclosures by UK companies, led by Pensions & Investment Research Consultants, ShareAction and the High Pay Centre. In addition to examining available data, it will explore the ways pay distribution is relevant to investors.  

Less formally, we often meet and network with ESG peers and, when appropriate, arrange joint meetings with company representatives. This timeline displays our formal initiatives to date. If you would like more information on any of them or on what’s next, please ask your Baillie Gifford representative. 

These engagements and collaborations allow us to contribute to the development of industry best practice and, where appropriate, bring more pressure to bear on companies. This can help to enhance our clients’ long-term investment returns.

 

Important information

The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise and investors may not get back the amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

This article was produced and approved in January 2022 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of recording and may not reflect current thinking.

Baillie Gifford & Co and Baillie Gifford & Co Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Baillie Gifford & Co Limited is an Authorised Corporate Director of OEICs.

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited provides investment management and advisory services to non-UK Professional/Institutional clients only. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co. Baillie Gifford & Co and Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited are authorised and regulated by the FCA in the UK.

Persons resident or domiciled outside the UK should consult with their professional advisers as to whether they require any governmental or other consents in order to enable them to invest, and with their tax advisers for advice relevant to their own particular circumstances.

Europe

Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited provides investment management and advisory services to European (excluding UK) clients. It was incorporated in Ireland in May 2018 and is authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland. Through its MiFID passport, it has established Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited (Frankfurt Branch) to market its investment management and advisory services and distribute Baillie Gifford Worldwide Funds plc in Germany. Similarly, it has established Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited (Amsterdam Branch) to market its investment management and advisory services and distribute Baillie Gifford Worldwide Funds plc in The Netherlands. Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited also has a representative office in Zurich, Switzerland pursuant to Art. 58 of the Federal Act on Financial Institutions (‘FinIA’). It does not constitute a branch and therefore does not have authority to commit Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited. It is the intention to ask for the authorisation by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to maintain this representative office of a foreign asset manager of collective assets in Switzerland pursuant to the applicable transitional provisions of FinIA. Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, which is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford & Co.

Hong Kong

Baillie Gifford Asia (Hong Kong) Limited 柏基亞洲(香港)有限公司 is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited and holds a Type 1 and a Type 2 license from the Securities & Futures Commission of Hong Kong to market and distribute Baillie Gifford’s range of collective investment schemes to professional investors in Hong Kong. Baillie Gifford Asia (Hong Kong) Limited

柏基亞洲(香港)有限公司 can be contacted at Suites 2713–2715, Two International Finance Centre, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong. Telephone +852 3756 5700.

South Korea

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is licensed with the Financial Services Commission in South Korea as a cross border Discretionary Investment Manager and Non-discretionary Investment Adviser.

Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ Baillie Gifford Asset Management Limited (‘MUBGAM’) is a joint venture company between Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corporation and Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited. MUBGAM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Australia

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (ARBN 118 567 178) is registered as a foreign company under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and holds Foreign Australian Financial Services Licence No 528911. This material is provided to you on the basis that you are a ‘wholesale client’ within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (‘Corporations Act’). Please advise Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited immediately if you are not a wholesale client. In no circumstances may this material be made available to a ‘retail client’ within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act.

This material contains general information only. It does not take into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs.

South Africa

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is registered as a Foreign Financial Services Provider with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa.

North America

Baillie Gifford International LLC is wholly owned by Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited; it was formed in Delaware in 2005 and is registered with the SEC. It is the legal entity through which Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited provides client service and marketing functions in North America. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is registered with the SEC in the United States of America.

The Manager is not resident in Canada, its head office and principal place of business is in Edinburgh, Scotland. Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited is regulated in Canada as a portfolio manager and exempt market dealer with the Ontario Securities Commission ('OSC'). Its portfolio manager licence is currently passported into Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland & Labrador whereas the exempt market dealer licence is passported across all Canadian provinces and territories. Baillie Gifford International LLC is regulated by the OSC as an exempt market and its licence is passported across all Canadian provinces and territories. Baillie Gifford Investment Management (Europe) Limited (‘BGE’) relies on the International Investment Fund Manager Exemption in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

Oman

Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited (‘BGO’) neither has a registered business presence nor a representative office in Oman and does not undertake banking business or provide financial services in Oman. Consequently, BGO is not regulated by either the Central Bank of Oman or Oman’s Capital Market Authority. No authorization, licence or approval has been received from the Capital Market Authority of Oman or any other regulatory authority in Oman, to provide such advice or service within Oman. BGO does not solicit business in Oman and does not market, offer, sell or distribute any financial or investment products or services in Oman and no subscription to any securities, products or financial services may or will be consummated within Oman. The recipient of this material represents that it is a financial institution or a sophisticated investor (as described in Article 139 of the Executive Regulations of the Capital Market Law) and that its officers/employees have such experience in business and financial matters that they are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of investments.

Qatar

The materials contained herein are not intended to constitute an offer or provision of investment management, investment and advisory services or other financial services under the laws of Qatar. The services have not been and will not be authorised by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority, the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority or the Qatar Central Bank in accordance with their regulations or any other regulations in Qatar.

Israel

Baillie Gifford Overseas is not licensed under Israel’s Regulation of Investment Advising, Investment Marketing and Portfolio Management Law, 5755–1995 (the Advice Law) and does not carry insurance pursuant to the Advice Law. This material is only intended for those categories of Israeli residents who are qualified clients listed on the First Addendum to the Advice Law.

 

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