Sustainability and Corporate Governance Report 202
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IN-DEPTH REPORT – HANDELSBANKEN FONDER SWESIF Han
delsbanken Fonder is a member of Swesif. Swesif is an independent, non-profit forum for organisations involved in sustainable investments in Sweden. It aims to increase awareness of and interest in sustainable, responsible investing. In 2020, Handelsbanken was actively involved in Swesif through representation on Swesif’s board of directors. More initiatives and alliances we support PRI Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) was founded in 2006. It is a network of investors and service providers that, together with the UN, UNEP Finance Initiative and Global Compact, work together to implement principles for responsible investment. Its intention is to promote responsible behaviour among financial players and to drive greater transparency and awareness of ESG issues in the companies that these players invest in. Handelsbanken signed the principles in 2009. PRI has more than 3,500 affiliated members from more than 50 countries, who jointly manage capital equivalent to roughly USD 100 trillion. PRI – Cyber security engagement This initiative focuses on increasing investors’ understanding of cyber security in relation to their portfolio positions and the management of related risks. Furthermore, the initiative involves determining investors’ expectations of what companies can and should disclose regarding the control and management of cyber risks. The initiative also aims to improve the volume and quality of business disclosures related to cyber risk and governance. PRI – Ceres Sustainable Forests This initiative is aimed at helping investors understand how deforestation within cattle and soybean supply chains poses a material risk to businesses and investors. Around two-thirds of tropical deforestation is driven by commercial agriculture, mainly from cattle, soybeans, palm oil, timber and pulp. Deforestation has significant consequences for the environment and involves biodiversity loss, the loss of ecosystem services, soil degradation and disturbances in the water cycle. In addition, deforestation causes about 15 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Deforestation can therefore provide significant operational and climate-related risks for both companies and investors. GLOBAL COMPACT Handelsbanken is a signatory to the 2009 UN Global Compact, an initiative aimed at companies that advocates ten principles grounded in international conventions. The The nomination process Ahead of the 2020 AGMs, Handelsbanken Fonder served on 41 nomination committees. On the boards proposed 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. Corporate governance A key part of our task as an investment manager is active and responsible corporate governance in the companies we own through our funds. The role of shareholder brings with it our ability to influence these companies. In addition to dialogues, this is done mainly through voting at AGMs and representation on nomination committees. Governance activities primarily focus on holdings in companies where we are major owners or companies identified as having deficiencies in their governance or sustainability efforts. Annual general meetings In 2020, we voted at 647 ordinary and extraordinary general meetings in 47 countries across several geographic markets. Voting took place both through participation in the AGM and via electronic voting by proxy. We also voted in favour of several shareholder resolutions concerning sustainability as linked to environmental, climate and social issues. In 2021, we will further boost our voting activities related to climate change and sustainability in general to ensure that we engage in line with our goals. Voting at AGMs Sweden USA China Denmark Norway Brazil Finland Japan Mexico Saudi Arabia United Kingdom Germany Other countries 238 82 37 33 32 27 23 17 15 14 12 10 107 principles introduced in 2000 include human rights, labour law, the environment and the fight against corruption. FAIRR FAIRR is an investor network that raises awareness of the risks and opportunities that ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues bring in intensive livestock production. Through FAIRR, we have participated in company dialogues on reducing the use of antibiotics in the food industry among other measures. 61