Sustainability and Corporate Governance Report 202
0 1
IN-DEPTH REPORT – HANDELSBANKEN FONDER Engagement
ENGAGEMENT We are convinced that sustainability is a prerequisite for long-term value creation and that tight integration of sustainability in a company’s business models is crucial to its long-term success. Encouraging companies to take a more sustainable direction lies at the heart of our engagement activities. Handelsbanken Fonder believes in engagement as an effective means to do the following: 1. Influence companies to change and develop their sustainability efforts 2. Improve insights into the risks and opportunities of different investments 3. Generate sustainable long-term returns 4. Reduce negative impacts for sustainability factors 5. Overall, achieve our sustainability goals. We engage in different ways: through different types of dialogue, participation in investor networks and active governance. Dialogue We engage in proactive dialogue with the aim to influence companies to improve their sustainability performance, and we engage in reactive dialogue with companies that we assess are not living up to the international norms and conventions we support. Direct dialogue Direct dialogue is a dialogue that the fund managers conduct directly with the companies. It covers various sustainability issues, such as demands for increased transparency and sustainability reporting. Dialogue can also involve specific issues related to environmental impact, human rights and labour law issues. As active managers, we maintain regular contact with the companies we are invested in, meeting with company management and visiting their premises. Pooled engagement Together with other investors, we participate in joint dialogues with companies. Collaboration brings strength and sends clear signals to the companies that we expect the issues to be taken seriously. The starting point for these dialogues is often suspected or confirmed cases of violations of international norms and conventions and focuses mainly on the principles of the UN Global Compact initiative: human rights, labour law and working conditions, the environment and anti-corruption. We also support dialogue within the framework of global alliances and industry initiatives that often focus on specific themes, such as palm oil or climate change. Engagement DIALOGUE Direct dialogue Pooled engagement Investor networks and alliances CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Nomination committees Voting at AGMs Information about risk Past performance does not predict future returns. The value of the money invested in the fund can increase or decrease and there is no guarantee that all of your invested capital can be redeemed. The fund’s prospectus (“Informations broschyr”), fund rules and KIID are available at handelsbanken.se/funds. 57