2019: Join us for the two great lunch time talks! : Centre for Corporate Sustainability & Environmental Finance

Green Alpha & Carbon Neutral Equity Portfolios By: Mr Roy Maslen, Chief Investment Officer, Australian Equities at AllianceBernstein

For many Australian the most carbon intensive part of their life is their investments in Australian equities via their superannuation. Historically many investors have believed they can either invest in climate friendly portfolios or invest in portfolios to deliver attractive investment returns. During this session Roy Maslen will introduce the concept of green alpha which aims to deliver investment strategies that are climate friendly and capable of generating attractive investment returns. AllianceBernstein has recently launched Australia’s first carbon neutral equity portfolio. This portfolio has approximately 90% lower emissions than the S & P/ ASX 300 and then offsets the remaining emissions through the retirement of carbon credits. In addition, the portfolio construction puts a price on carbon when valuing companies and the investment team engage extensively with many of Australia’s largest companies on how climate change presents both risks and opportunities for their businesses.

The Impact of UN PRI Signatures on Fund Flows By: Mr Dan Daugaard, Deputy Head for the Department of Applied Finance, Macquarie Business School

Investors are demonstrating they want their investments to make a positive impact on the world around them. Socially Responsible Funds (SRI) funds are a means for achieving advances across environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. But how do investors ensure their investment manager is truly implementing ESG principles and not just greenwashing? Industry bodies such as the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI) promote and evaluate good SRI practice. They therefore act as signalling agents and are impliedly designating some funds as SRI funds. This presents an opportunity for funding managers but a dilemma for the industry. If the funds the designation attracts are adequate, fund managers will be motivated to make improvements to their SRI processes. If the resulting fund flows are significant, a higher ethical concern arises for the signalling agents – ie that they act in a responsible manner by avoiding conflicts of interest and maintaining their independence. This paper applies a longitudinal analysis of the funds flows to SRI funds to measure the magnitude of fund flows attributable to the SRI designation. This indicates the value to fund managers of the SRI designation and the importance of the agents to the industry.

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