
COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund (CCLA)
SRI Style:
Ethical Style
SDR Labelling:
Unlabelled with sustainable characteristics
Product:
Charities
Fund Region:
Global
Fund Asset Type:
Mixed Asset
Launch Date:
31/12/2009
Last Amended:
Jul 2024
Dialshifter (
):
Fund Size:
£2307.00m
(as at: 31/03/2024)
Total Screened Themed SRI Assets:
£14512.00m
Total Responsible Ownership Assets:
£14512.00m
Total Assets Under Management:
£14512.00m
ISIN:
GB00B57RJ342, GB00B57RJX49
Contact Us:
Objectives:
The Fund aims to provide a long-term total return comprising growth in capital and income. The Fund is an actively managed, diversified portfolio of assets designed to help protect both present and future beneficiaries from the effects of inflation. It will have an emphasis on equities but will also include property, bonds and other asset classes, which may be either liquid or illiquid in nature. The Fund has a wide range of ethical restrictions and is advised by the ethical advisory committee that identifies potential areas of policy development and refinement of the Fund’s client-driven ethical investment policy.
Sustainable, Responsible
&/or ESG Overview:
Our work has four strands:
- Engagement focused on social and environmental issues that are a priority for our clients.
- Voting and engagement on governance issues to protect shareholder value and address excessive remuneration.
- Setting constraints on investment and exposure to activities considered unacceptable by our clients.
- Responsibilities under the UK Stewardship Code and the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
Primary fund last amended:
Jul 2024
Information directly from fund manager.
Fund Filters
Sustainability - General
Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information.
Environmental - General
Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
Funds that limit or 'reduce' their exposure to carbon intensive industries (ie sectors which are major contributors to climate change. Funds vary - some funds may be 'underweight' in this area which means they may have some investment in highly carbon intensive areas. Funds of this kind may choose companies they consider to be 'best in sector' and encourage ever higher standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further details.
Climate Change & Energy
Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.
Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.
The fund manager excludes companies with direct involvement in fossil fuel exploration (eg coal, oil and gas companies)
Social / Employment
Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards
Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Companies are excluded if they make more than 5% of their revenue from the manufacture, sale or distribution of tobacco products including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.
Find funds with a written civilian firearms exclusion policy - meaning that they will not invest in companies that make (or perhaps also sell) handguns made for non-military users.
Find funds that avoid investment in companies involved in the production of alcohol. Strategies vary; some funds allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information.
Human Rights
Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail.
Gilts & Sovereigns
Find funds that invest in loans issued the government, commonly known as gilts or government bonds. These may or may not be ringfenced for specific projects (see additional options). See fund literature for any selection criteria.
Find funds that invest in financial instruments issued by governments, but will only hold those that meet certain environmental and or social criteria. This may, for example mean certain assets are excluded in line with eg Freedom House research. Strategies vary, see fund literature for more information.
Banking & Financials
Find funds that include banks as part of their holdings / portfolio.
Funds that do or may invest in insurance companies.
Governance & Management
Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.
Exclude companies that are subject to United Nations sanctions. See eg https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list
Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.
Fund managers encourage the companies they invest in to have more diverse board structures (e.g. more women on boards)
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity
Fund Governance
Find funds that have an external committee that helps steer or advise fund managers on SRI policy or strategy related issues. These people may be paid for their time but are not employees of the fund manager.
Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature.
Environmental, social and governance issues are part of this fund’s reporting of their ‘value’ to clients. AoV reporting is a statutory requirement. Including ESG factors in its calculation is not.
Asset Size
Find funds that invests more than half of their money into what are commonly regarded as 'large companies'. This will typically mean that the market capitalisation (or value) of the companies they hold is in excess of £5 to £10 billion.
Impact Methodologies
Fund aims to deliver positive environmental and or social impacts (real world benefits) through its engagement with investee assets
How The Fund Works
Find funds where their main approach is to apply positive or negative ethical, social and / or environmental screens. Strictly screened funds are likely to exclude more companies than other related fund options. See fund literature for further information.
Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.
Find funds that consider both the 'positive' and 'negative' aspects of company behaviour and make balanced, considered decisions as part of their investment approach. May apply to a range of different issues and policy areas.
Find funds that use internationally agreed standards, conventions and 'norms' to help direct where the fund can and cannot invest (e.g. the UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Development Goals). Read fund literature for further information.
A major focus of these funds is the careful management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related risks - typically by avoiding or being underweight in companies seen as posing major risks in these areas (i.e. not necessarily by using themes, exclusions etc).
Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies).
This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes.
Unscreened Assets & Cash
All assets held in the fund - except cash - meet the sustainability criteria published in fund documentation.
Intended Clients & Product Options
Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.
Find funds designed for clients who care about ethical and values-based issues, often alongside sustainability issues also.
Fund Management Company Information
About The Business
Find fund management companies that are smaller or specialise in particular areas - notably, ideally ESG related. Strategies vary.
Finds fund management companies that have a published company wide stewardship, engagement and / or responsible ownership policy or strategy that covers all investments. Stewardship typically involves encouraging higher ESG standards through voting and dialogue.
Find fund management companies that actively encourage higher 'environmental, social and governance' and/or 'sustainable and responsible investment' practices across investee companies - typically where the aim is to encourage positive change that is aligned with the best interests of investors. Strategies vary. See additional information and options.
Find fund managers that vote all* the shares they own at Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings. A commitment to voting shares is a key indicator of 'responsible share ownership' demonstrating their support for or disagreement with management policy. (*situations can legitimately, occasionally occur where voting proves impossible, but in principle all shares should be voted.)
Find fund managers that consider responsible ownership and ESG to be a key differentiator for their business.
Find fund management companies that take sustainability criteria into account when selecting and/or managing all of their property / real estate investments.
The leadership team of this asset manager have performance targets linked to environmental goals.
Find funds run by fund managers that apply Responsible ownership or 'Stewardship' policies to all or most of their investment assets. This means active involvement (e.g. voting, dialogue) with the companies they invest in across funds (not normally limited to ethical or SRI options.) Read fund literature for further information.
Find fund management companies that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when deciding whether or not to invest in a company for all / almost all of their funds and other assets. This is increasingly seen as part of sound risk management.
Finds organisations / fund managers that have an in-house (company wide) diversity improvement programme - meaning that they are working to ensure that within their own businesses they employ people from diverse backgrounds - often typically focused on ethnicity and/or sex.
Asset manager has information on their website that explains how they treat 'vulnerable clients' (as set out in FCA regulation)
Collaborations & Affiliations
Find fund management companies that have signed up to the UN backed 'Principles of Responsible Investment'.
Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association
Find fund management companies that have partnered with Fund EcoMarket - meaning that they are helping to improve access to information on sustainable and responsible investment by paying an annual fee to us which enables us to publish information for free. Partner funds are listed ahead of other funds and have their logos displayed.
Fund management entity is a member of the Investment Association https://www.theia.org/
Resources
Find fund management companies that employ people to steer and support fund managers in voting shares at company AGM's and EGMs in ways that are consistent with encouraging higher ESG/sustainability standards.
Find a fund management company that directly employs specialist ESG/SRI/sustainability researchers or analysts. This allows asset managers to discuss environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities directly with companies.
Accreditations
Finds organisations / fund managers that have an A+ PRI rating - meaning they are highly rated according to the 'Principles of Responsible Investment'
Find fund managers that are signatories to the FRC UK Stewardship Code, which sets out a framework for constructive investor / investee relations where fund managers are encouraged to behave like responsible, typically longer term 'company owners'.
Engagement Approach
Fund manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that is focused on addressing climate change with investee assets.
Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place which aims to address human rights issues in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers) with the aim of raising standards
Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place that aims to improve labour standards for the benefit of employees in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers)
working with the assets they hold to help stamp out modern slavery - where direct or indirect company employees are exploited for business benefits.
Fund managers have stewardship strategies in place that focus on improving governance standards across investee assets
Asset manager has stewardship strategy in place which involves discussing mental health issues with investee companies - with the aim of raising standards
Has a stewardship / responsible ownership strategy that encourages responsible supply chain - ie the managers will discuss environmental, social and governance issues with investee companies with the aim of raising standards
Company Wide Exclusions
Find fund management companies (not funds) that avoid investment in 'controversial weapons' across all of their funds and other investment vehicles.
Find fund management companies that avoid investment in tobacco (manufacturing) companies across all their assets.
Find fund management companies that avoid investment in fossil fuel companies (e.g. coal, oil and gas) across all of their funds. (and/ or other assets.)
Find funds / fund managers that are reviewing, or have reviewed, their exposure to carbon intensive industries including (but not only) mining, oil and gas companies. (Typically with reference to climate change.)
This asset manager has a strategy in place that will lead them to exit direct investments in the coal mining industry. Managers ability to do this may depend on the geographic regions in which they invest.
This asset manager excludes direct investment in the coal mining industry. Managers ability to do this may depend on the geographic regions in which they invest.
Climate & Net Zero Transition
Finds organisations / fund management companies that are in the process of working out how to make a ‘net zero commitment’ - meaning that when that is finalised they will have started the process of reducing their total greenhouse gas emissions to'zero'.
Transparency
Find fund management companies that publish a report detailing their responsible investment ownership - also known as 'Stewardship' - activity.
Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.
Find fund management companies that will supply information about their sustainable and responsible investment activity on request.
Fund management companies that publish a full record of how they vote their shares at AGMs (annual general meetings) and EGMs (extraordinary general meetings). Voting strategies have an important role to play encouraging higher environmental, social and governance standards.
Find fund management companies that have supplied Dialshifter information. See Dialshifter tab within record for more information.
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:
The COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund employs ethical investment policies as determined by the COIF board and informed by client consultation. These policies are reviewed by the board at least annually. The board does not believe that the policies will have a lasting or substantial adverse impact on the performance of the fund.
1.Acting as an agent for ‘change’
Acting as an agent for ‘change’ because investment markets can only ever be as healthy as the environment and communities that support them. This is done by:
- Using the Fund’s ownership rights to help improve the sustainability of the assets in which it invests. CCLA’s approach is set out in its Engagement Policy and Proxy Voting Guidelines, both of which are available on CCLA’s website and regularly updated.
- Bringing investors together to address systemic issues that have not had the attention that they require. CCLA prioritises selected themes based upon an assessment of the issue and the level of response by the investment community. Initially this will focus on climate change, addressing modern slavery in company supply chains and addressing poor corporate practices for protecting employees’ mental health. CCLA’s current priorities will be regularly disclosed on CCLA’s website
- Seeking to be a catalyst for change in the investment industry. Examples of how this is delivered may include the provision of training and the development of publicly available resources. Current priorities are disclosed on CCLA’s website
2.Assessing companies’ ESG Criteria
Assessing companies’ environmental, social and governance criteria because CCLA believes that a combination of legislation, regulation and changing societal preference will impact negatively on unsustainable business models. For this reason, the Fund will avoid investing in companies that:
- Have poor management and weak corporate governance. As defined by CCLA and informed by tools such as CCLA’s proprietary corporate governance ranking.
- not meeting CCLA’s climate change criteria as set out in the ‘Investor Climate Action Plan’, as available on the CCLA website. This includes: 1) minimum standards against which companies are assessed, 2) a restriction upon investing in fossil fuel producers (defined as a company that derives more than 5% of revenue from the extraction of coal or tar sands and/or a company that derives more than 10% of revenue from the extraction and/or refining of oil and gas) and 3) CCLA’s commitment to achieve ‘Net Zero’ emissions listed equity portfolios no later than 2050. Further information is available on website.
- being responsible for a significant controversial environmental and/or social incident and, following a period of engagement of no more than three years by the Investment Manager, has not taken appropriate steps to respond to the damage caused. At launch a significant controversial incident will be defined as being assessed by a data provider of the Investment Managers choosing as either: 1) failing an assessment of compliance with the UN Global Compact, 2) failing an assessment of compliance with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and/or 3) another equivalent approach to assessing controversies – such as a Level 0 controversy as defined by MSCI ESG Research.
- Not demonstrating a willingness to improve through investor engagement.
3.Investing in a way that we believe is aligned with our investors
The fund is promoted as an ethical fund and the ethical investment policy that it implements is set every three years following extensive client consultation. The current policy period is 2022-2025. During this period the fund will avoid investment in companies that we have been advised by MSCI (unless otherwise noted), as:
- Producing landmines, cluster munitions (as determined by Sustainalytics), chemical/biological weapons, and/or nuclear weapons.
- Having significant involvement (>10% of revenue) in alcohol, gambling, pornography, tobacco, high interest rate lending (defined as any company, whose main business activity or focus (defined as exceeding 10% of group revenue) is the provision of home-collected credit (‘doorstep lending’, unsecured short-term loans (‘payday loans’) or pawnbroker loans, directly or through owned subsidiaries), non-military weapons, or strategic military sales.
- Testing cosmetics on animals (applies to companies in the ‘personal products’ GICS sub-industry. Due to regulatory requirements in some countries exceptions will be made for companies that are identified as promoting alternatives to animal testing and adopt a rigorous, responsible, animal testing policy).
- Having fallen behind the transition to a low carbon economy. This is currently defined as:
- companies that derive more than 5% of their revenue from the extraction of energy coal or tar sands
- companies, whose principal business is the generation of electricity, that have not demonstrated the ability to align their business with the Paris Climate Change Agreement (as determined by CCLA)
- extractives or utilities sector companies where productive engagement is not believed to be possible (at the discretion of the manager).
- Deriving more than 10% of their revenue from the extraction of oil and gas (this is defined as revenue derived from oil and gas extraction, production and refining).
- Those who do not score at least 50% overall and both in the corporate profile and marking score on the Access to Nutrition Index for baby milk substitutes or MSCI’s standard screen for single-use abortifacients. (These restrictions are implemented to reflect the unitholders’ wish to cooperate with each other to meet the specific requirements of some client groups.)
- Those who have an MSCI ESG Rating of B or below and have failed a subsequent CCLA ‘comply or explain’ assessment.
The fund will not purchase sovereign debt from countries agreed by CCLA and the Advisory Committee as being among the world’s most oppressive.
In addition, remaining companies will be excluded if after persistent engagement, fail CCLA’s ‘controversy process’ on issues including:
- ILO Core Labour Standards
- UN Guiding Principles on business and human rights
- biodiversity and toxic waste
- climate change disclosure.
The Ethical Fund has set an aspirational target to dedicate 5% of capital to investments that provide positive social or environmental objectives and meet standard risk–return criteria.
The fund is also managed in accordance with CCLA’s responsible investment process and takes a positive approach to stewardship as defined in the UK Stewardship Code for institutional investors. CCLA’s response to this code and its voting and engagement records are available at www.ccla.co.uk.
The fund will take an active policy with regard to corporate actions and voting as required.
4.Implementation of the policy
Should a portfolio holding cease to comply with the above approach, the Investment Manager will establish a 6-month divestment window for the asset to be sold. This ensures that shareholders are not financially disadvantaged by the Fund becoming an immediate forced seller.
Process:
The focus of our responsible investment process is preserving the long-term value of our clients’ investments by delivering positive change. However, to protect short- and medium-term value, we fully integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our investment process for listed equity and fixed interest. We believe that this allows us to better assess and control financial risks, that are not often visible through the lens of conventional financial analysis.
We believe that ESG factors are of increasing importance as regulation, legislation and changing consumer preferences will increasingly embrace the importance of sustainability. This means that businesses involved in the most unsustainable activities are likely, over time, to be punished. So, we assess each company prior to purchase.
This assessment, and some of our subsequent active ownership work, is based on four themes:
- climate change, biodiversity and the environment
- good work and human rights
- good health
- corporate governance.
In researching a company, we use data provided by third parties (including MSCI, Sustainalytics and Credit Suisse), supplemented by in-house analysis, to identify companies that are not meeting the standards of their peers.
In each theme we use data and due-diligence meetings with company management prior to making an investment. We review companies’ policies for managing ESG risks, how they are performing in managing those risks and assess whether companies have been involved in any ESG-related controversies. Taken together this analysis allows us to identify, and remove from our investment universe, the most unsustainable businesses and develop appropriate engagement action plans to help others move forward.
The focus of our responsible investment process is preserving the long-term value of our clients’ investments by delivering positive change. However, to protect short- and medium-term value, we fully integrate ESG factors into our investment process. We believe that this allows us to better assess and control financial risks, that are not often visible through the lens of conventional financial analysis. We believe that poor ESG standards at companies is of increasing importance as regulation, legislation and changing consumer preferences will increasingly embrace the importance of sustainability. This means that businesses involved in the most unsustainable activities are likely, over time, to be punished. So, we assess each company prior to purchase.
We use data and due-diligence meetings with company management prior to making an investment. We review companies’ policies for managing ESG risks, how they are performing in managing those risks and assess whether companies have been involved in any ESG-related controversies. Taken together this analysis allows us to identify, and remove from our investment universe, the most unsustainable businesses and develop appropriate engagement action plans to help others move forward.
As a result of this process, using MSCI SFDR Adverse Impact Metrics, the fund has better-than-benchmark corporate governance ratings and a carbon footprint that is approximately one third of that of the MSCI World Index.
Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:
CCLA works to drive change through active ownership (Act), CCLA’s work to integrate financially material ESG issues into our equity investment processes (Assess), and work to align investment portfolios with client values (Align) across all asset classes. The core governance framework for Sustainability team is encapsulated in the following:
Align: we employ pre-trade compliance systems to ensure that constraints and controls are observed, and ex-post daily checks are conducted by Compliance. Ethical restrictions are coded to individual asset level, and we employ third-party data for ethical screening.
Assess: material non-financial risk is integrated into our equity investment process. Sustainability team members attend the weekly stock meeting where stock investment cases peer reviewed, and agreement reached on stock specific decisions. The team ensure that non-financial risks are integrated into stock notes and that where investments in high-risk companies are considered that Investment committee approval is sought before we move forward to investment.
Act: the engagement leads for each of key themes: Better Health, Better Work and Better Environment meet weekly to discuss progress against predetermined engagement aims. All engagement projects require prior Investment Committee approval.
In addition to the above the Sustainability team is required to report quarterly to Investment Committee meeting (quarterly) – this provides executive oversight of the equity investment process, review of results and approval/adoption of high-risk investments and engagement programmes.
Dialshifter
This fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by…
Acting to increase the pace of climate action by leading impactful engagements with the companies that we invest in and pushing policymakers for progressive regulation and legislation
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by…
Achieving Net zero through action, not transactions. While carbon footprints are an important tool in managing the ‘climate exposure’ of portfolios, we believe that it is better to achieve ‘net zero’ by working to achieve real emissions reductions rather than solely buying low carbon assets and selling carbon intensive ones to other investors. This approach seeks to assist with reducing global emissions, and accelerating the fight against climate change, rather than just making our own portfolio metrics look good.
SDR Labelling: Unlabelled with sustainable characteristics
Voting Record
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Important information
This document is a financial promotion and is for information only. It does not provide financial, investment or other professional advice.
To make sure you understand whether our product is suitable for you, please read the key investor information document and prospectus and consider the risk factors identified in those documents. We strongly recommend you get independent professional advice before investing.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. You may not get back the amount you originally invested and may lose money.
The fund can invest in different currencies. Changes in exchange rates will therefore affect the value of your investment. Investing in emerging markets involves a greater risk of loss as such investments can be more sensitive to political and economic conditions than developed markets. The annual management charge is paid from capital. Where charges are taken from capital rather than income, capital growth will be constrained and there is a risk of capital loss.
Any forward-looking statements are based on our current opinions, expectations, and projections. We do not have to update or amend these. Actual results could be significantly different than expected.
Investment in a CCLA COIF Charities fund is only available to charities within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Charities Act 2011. The CCLA COIF Charities funds are approved by the Charity Commission as Common Investment Funds under section 24 of the Charities Act 1993 (as has been replaced by the Charities Act 2011) and are Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes and unauthorised Alternative Investment Funds.
Issued by CCLA Investment Management Limited (registered in England & Wales, No. 02183088, at One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
CCLA Fund Managers Limited (registered in England & Wales, No. 8735639, at One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is the manager of the COIF Charities funds (registered charity numbers 218873, 803610, 1093084, 1121433 and 1132054).
Fund Name | SRI Style | SDR Labelling | Product | Region | Asset Type | Launch Date | Last Amended |
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund (CCLA) |
Ethical Style | Unlabelled with sustainable characteristics | Charities | Global | Mixed Asset | 31/12/2009 | Jul 2024 | |
ObjectivesThe Fund aims to provide a long-term total return comprising growth in capital and income. The Fund is an actively managed, diversified portfolio of assets designed to help protect both present and future beneficiaries from the effects of inflation. It will have an emphasis on equities but will also include property, bonds and other asset classes, which may be either liquid or illiquid in nature. The Fund has a wide range of ethical restrictions and is advised by the ethical advisory committee that identifies potential areas of policy development and refinement of the Fund’s client-driven ethical investment policy.
|
Fund Size: £2307.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) Total Screened Themed SRI Assets: £14512.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) Total Responsible Ownership Assets: £14512.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) Total Assets Under Management: £14512.00m (as at: 31/03/2024) ISIN: GB00B57RJ342, GB00B57RJX49 Contact Us: clientservices@ccla.co.uk |
|||||||
Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG OverviewOur work has four strands:
|
||||||||
Primary fund last amended: Jul 2024 |
||||||||
Information received directly from Fund Manager |
||||||||
Please select what you would like to read:
Fund FiltersSustainability - General
Sustainability policy
Funds that have policies that consider (environmental and social) sustainability issues. Strategies vary but are likely to consider environmental issues like climate change, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, resource management, environmental impacts; and social issues like equal opportunities, human rights, labour standards, diversity and adherence to internationally recognised codes. See fund information. Environmental - General
Environmental policy
Funds that have policies which relate to environmental issues. These will typically set out the fund's stance on issues such as pollution, climate change, resource management, biodiversity loss, carbon emissions, plastics and/or additional environmental impacts. Strategies vary. See fund information for further information.
Limits exposure to carbon intensive industries
Funds that limit or 'reduce' their exposure to carbon intensive industries (ie sectors which are major contributors to climate change. Funds vary - some funds may be 'underweight' in this area which means they may have some investment in highly carbon intensive areas. Funds of this kind may choose companies they consider to be 'best in sector' and encourage ever higher standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further details. Climate Change & Energy
Coal, oil & / or gas majors excluded
Funds that avoid investing in major coal, oil and/or gas (extraction) companies. Funds vary: some may exclude all companies that extract oil. Others may have exposure to oil extraction via more diversified energy companies. See fund literature to confirm details.
Fossil fuel reserves exclusion
Funds that avoid investing in companies with coal, oil and gas reserves. See fund information for further details.
Fossil fuel exploration exclusion - direct involvement
The fund manager excludes companies with direct involvement in fossil fuel exploration (eg coal, oil and gas companies) Social / Employment
Labour standards policy
Find funds that have a labour standards policy - which can be expected to mean that the fund will invest in / favour companies that have higher standards in this area - although fund strategies can vary significantly (as with all policy areas). See eg https://www.ilo.org/international-labour-standards Ethical Values Led Exclusions
Tobacco and related product manufacturers excluded
Companies are excluded if they are involved in any aspect of the production chain for tobacco products, including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Tobacco and related products - avoid where revenue > 5%
Companies are excluded if they make more than 5% of their revenue from the manufacture, sale or distribution of tobacco products including cigarettes, vaping, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco and cigars.
Armaments manufacturers avoided
Find funds that avoid companies that manufacture products intended specifically for military use. Fund strategies vary - particularly with regard to non-strategic military products. See fund literature for fund specific details.
Civilian firearms production exclusion
Find funds with a written civilian firearms exclusion policy - meaning that they will not invest in companies that make (or perhaps also sell) handguns made for non-military users.
Alcohol production excluded
Find funds that avoid investment in companies involved in the production of alcohol. Strategies vary; some funds allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund literature for further information.
Gambling avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies with significant involvement in the gambling industry. Some funds may allow a small proportion of profits to come from this area. See fund policy for further details.
Pornography avoidance policy
Find funds that avoid companies that derive significant income from pornography and related areas. Strategies vary. See fund details for further information. Human Rights
Human rights policy
Find funds that have policies relating to human rights issues. Funds of this kind typically require companies to demonstrate higher standards, although some fund managers work to encourage improvements. Investee companies are often judged against internationally agreed norms or standards. Strategies vary. See fund information for further detail. Gilts & Sovereigns
Invests in gilts / government bonds
Find funds that invest in loans issued the government, commonly known as gilts or government bonds. These may or may not be ringfenced for specific projects (see additional options). See fund literature for any selection criteria.
Invests in sovereigns subject to screening criteria
Find funds that invest in financial instruments issued by governments, but will only hold those that meet certain environmental and or social criteria. This may, for example mean certain assets are excluded in line with eg Freedom House research. Strategies vary, see fund literature for more information. Banking & Financials
Invests in banks
Find funds that include banks as part of their holdings / portfolio.
Invests in insurers
Funds that do or may invest in insurance companies. Governance & Management
Governance policy
Find fund options that have policies that relate to corporate governance issues such as board structure, executive remuneration, bribery and/or corporate corruption. These funds will typically avoid companies with poor practices. Strategies vary. See fund literature for further information.
Avoids companies with poor governance
Find funds that aim to avoid investing in companies with poor governance practices.(e.g. board structure, management practices etc.) Views may however vary on what counts as 'poor' practices - and funds may not immediately divest as they may prefer to work to encourage higher standards. See fund literature for further information.
UN sanctions exclusion
Exclude companies that are subject to United Nations sanctions. See eg https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/un-sc-consolidated-list
Anti-bribery and corruption policy
Find funds that have policies explaining how managers will respond to assets / companies that do not comply with relevant anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards or laws. Strategies vary; options include stewardship/ engagement and divestment - or a combination. See fund literature for further information.
Encourage board diversity e.g. gender
Fund managers encourage the companies they invest in to have more diverse board structures (e.g. more women on boards)
Encourage higher ESG standards through stewardship activity
A core element of these funds will aim to encourage higher ESG standards through responsible ownership / stewardship / engagement /voting activity Fund Governance
Employ external (fund) oversight or advisory committee
Find funds that have an external committee that helps steer or advise fund managers on SRI policy or strategy related issues. These people may be paid for their time but are not employees of the fund manager.
ESG integration strategy
Find funds that factor in 'environmental, social and governance' issues as part of their investment decision making process. A focus on 'ESG' typically means a fund is carrying out additional research to help reduce ESG related risks. It does not necessarily mean a focus on sustainability. Strategies vary. See fund literature.
ESG factors included in Assessment of Value (AoV) report
Environmental, social and governance issues are part of this fund’s reporting of their ‘value’ to clients. AoV reporting is a statutory requirement. Including ESG factors in its calculation is not. Asset Size
Over 50% large cap companies
Find funds that invests more than half of their money into what are commonly regarded as 'large companies'. This will typically mean that the market capitalisation (or value) of the companies they hold is in excess of £5 to £10 billion. Impact Methodologies
Aim to deliver positive impacts through engagement
Fund aims to deliver positive environmental and or social impacts (real world benefits) through its engagement with investee assets How The Fund Works
Strictly screened ethical fund
Find funds where their main approach is to apply positive or negative ethical, social and / or environmental screens. Strictly screened funds are likely to exclude more companies than other related fund options. See fund literature for further information.
Combines ESG strategy with other SRI criteria
Find funds that have an ESG strategy (which is typically focused on avoiding companies that pose environmental, social or governance related risks) with additional criteria such as positive and/or negative screens, themes and stewardship strategies.
Balances company 'pros and cons' / best in sector
Find funds that consider both the 'positive' and 'negative' aspects of company behaviour and make balanced, considered decisions as part of their investment approach. May apply to a range of different issues and policy areas.
Norms focus
Find funds that use internationally agreed standards, conventions and 'norms' to help direct where the fund can and cannot invest (e.g. the UN Global Compact, UN Sustainable Development Goals). Read fund literature for further information.
Focus on ESG risk mitigation
A major focus of these funds is the careful management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) related risks - typically by avoiding or being underweight in companies seen as posing major risks in these areas (i.e. not necessarily by using themes, exclusions etc).
SRI / ESG / Ethical policies explained on website
Find funds that have published explanations of their ethical, social and/or environmental policies online (i.e. fund decision making strategies/ buy/sell &/or asset management strategies).
Do not use stock / securities lending
This fund does not use stock lending for performance or risk purposes. Unscreened Assets & Cash
All assets (except cash) meet published sustainability criteria
All assets held in the fund - except cash - meet the sustainability criteria published in fund documentation. Intended Clients & Product Options
Intended for investors interested in sustainability
Finds funds designed to meet the needs of individual investors with an interest in sustainability issues.
Intended for clients interested in ethical issues
Find funds designed for clients who care about ethical and values-based issues, often alongside sustainability issues also. Fund Management Company InformationAbout The Business
Boutique / specialist fund management company
Find fund management companies that are smaller or specialise in particular areas - notably, ideally ESG related. Strategies vary.
Responsible ownership / stewardship policy or strategy (AFM company wide)
Finds fund management companies that have a published company wide stewardship, engagement and / or responsible ownership policy or strategy that covers all investments. Stewardship typically involves encouraging higher ESG standards through voting and dialogue.
ESG / SRI engagement (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies that actively encourage higher 'environmental, social and governance' and/or 'sustainable and responsible investment' practices across investee companies - typically where the aim is to encourage positive change that is aligned with the best interests of investors. Strategies vary. See additional information and options.
Vote all* shares at AGMs / EGMs (AFM company wide)
Find fund managers that vote all* the shares they own at Annual General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings. A commitment to voting shares is a key indicator of 'responsible share ownership' demonstrating their support for or disagreement with management policy. (*situations can legitimately, occasionally occur where voting proves impossible, but in principle all shares should be voted.)
Responsible ownership / ESG a key differentiator (AFM company wide)
Find fund managers that consider responsible ownership and ESG to be a key differentiator for their business.
Sustainable property strategy (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies that take sustainability criteria into account when selecting and/or managing all of their property / real estate investments.
Senior management KPIs include environmental goals (AFM company wide)
The leadership team of this asset manager have performance targets linked to environmental goals.
Responsible ownership policy for non SRI funds (AFM company wide)
Find funds run by fund managers that apply Responsible ownership or 'Stewardship' policies to all or most of their investment assets. This means active involvement (e.g. voting, dialogue) with the companies they invest in across funds (not normally limited to ethical or SRI options.) Read fund literature for further information.
Integrates ESG factors into all / most (AFM) fund research
Find fund management companies that consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues when deciding whether or not to invest in a company for all / almost all of their funds and other assets. This is increasingly seen as part of sound risk management.
In-house diversity improvement programme (AFM company wide)
Finds organisations / fund managers that have an in-house (company wide) diversity improvement programme - meaning that they are working to ensure that within their own businesses they employ people from diverse backgrounds - often typically focused on ethnicity and/or sex.
Vulnerable client policy on website (AFM company wide)
Asset manager has information on their website that explains how they treat 'vulnerable clients' (as set out in FCA regulation) Collaborations & Affiliations
PRI signatory
Find fund management companies that have signed up to the UN backed 'Principles of Responsible Investment'.
UKSIF member
Find fund management companies that are members of UKSIF - the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance association
Fund EcoMarket partner
Find fund management companies that have partnered with Fund EcoMarket - meaning that they are helping to improve access to information on sustainable and responsible investment by paying an annual fee to us which enables us to publish information for free. Partner funds are listed ahead of other funds and have their logos displayed.
Investment Association (IA) member
Fund management entity is a member of the Investment Association https://www.theia.org/ Resources
In-house responsible ownership / voting expertise
Find fund management companies that employ people to steer and support fund managers in voting shares at company AGM's and EGMs in ways that are consistent with encouraging higher ESG/sustainability standards.
Employ specialist ESG / SRI / sustainability researchers
Find a fund management company that directly employs specialist ESG/SRI/sustainability researchers or analysts. This allows asset managers to discuss environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities directly with companies. Accreditations
PRI A+ rated (AFM company wide)
Finds organisations / fund managers that have an A+ PRI rating - meaning they are highly rated according to the 'Principles of Responsible Investment'
UK Stewardship Code signatory (AFM company wide)
Find fund managers that are signatories to the FRC UK Stewardship Code, which sets out a framework for constructive investor / investee relations where fund managers are encouraged to behave like responsible, typically longer term 'company owners'. Engagement Approach
Engaging on climate change issues
Fund manager has stewardship /responsible ownership strategy that is focused on addressing climate change with investee assets.
Engaging on human rights issues
Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place which aims to address human rights issues in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers) with the aim of raising standards
Engaging on labour / employment issues
Asset manager has responsible ownership / stewardship strategy in place that aims to improve labour standards for the benefit of employees in investee companies (and potentially their suppliers)
Engaging to stop modern slavery
working with the assets they hold to help stamp out modern slavery - where direct or indirect company employees are exploited for business benefits.
Engaging on governance issues
Fund managers have stewardship strategies in place that focus on improving governance standards across investee assets
Engaging on mental health issues
Asset manager has stewardship strategy in place which involves discussing mental health issues with investee companies - with the aim of raising standards
Engaging on responsible supply chain issues
Has a stewardship / responsible ownership strategy that encourages responsible supply chain - ie the managers will discuss environmental, social and governance issues with investee companies with the aim of raising standards Company Wide Exclusions
Controversial weapons avoidance policy (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies (not funds) that avoid investment in 'controversial weapons' across all of their funds and other investment vehicles.
Tobacco avoidance policy (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies that avoid investment in tobacco (manufacturing) companies across all their assets.
Fossil fuel exclusion policy (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies that avoid investment in fossil fuel companies (e.g. coal, oil and gas) across all of their funds. (and/ or other assets.)
Review(ing) carbon / fossil fuel exposure for all funds (AFM company wide)
Find funds / fund managers that are reviewing, or have reviewed, their exposure to carbon intensive industries including (but not only) mining, oil and gas companies. (Typically with reference to climate change.)
Coal divestment policy (AFM company wide)
This asset manager has a strategy in place that will lead them to exit direct investments in the coal mining industry. Managers ability to do this may depend on the geographic regions in which they invest.
Coal exclusion policy (group wide coal mining exclusion policy)
This asset manager excludes direct investment in the coal mining industry. Managers ability to do this may depend on the geographic regions in which they invest. Climate & Net Zero Transition
Working towards a ‘Net Zero’ commitment (AFM company wide)
Finds organisations / fund management companies that are in the process of working out how to make a ‘net zero commitment’ - meaning that when that is finalised they will have started the process of reducing their total greenhouse gas emissions to'zero'. Transparency
Publish responsible ownership / stewardship report (AFM company wide)
Find fund management companies that publish a report detailing their responsible investment ownership - also known as 'Stewardship' - activity.
Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information on company website
Find companies that publish information about their sustainable and responsible investment strategies on their company website.
Full SRI / responsible ownership policy information available on request
Find fund management companies that will supply information about their sustainable and responsible investment activity on request.
Publish full voting record (AFM company wide)
Fund management companies that publish a full record of how they vote their shares at AGMs (annual general meetings) and EGMs (extraordinary general meetings). Voting strategies have an important role to play encouraging higher environmental, social and governance standards.
Dialshifter statement
Find fund management companies that have supplied Dialshifter information. See Dialshifter tab within record for more information. Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:The COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund employs ethical investment policies as determined by the COIF board and informed by client consultation. These policies are reviewed by the board at least annually. The board does not believe that the policies will have a lasting or substantial adverse impact on the performance of the fund.
1.Acting as an agent for ‘change’ Acting as an agent for ‘change’ because investment markets can only ever be as healthy as the environment and communities that support them. This is done by:
2.Assessing companies’ ESG Criteria Assessing companies’ environmental, social and governance criteria because CCLA believes that a combination of legislation, regulation and changing societal preference will impact negatively on unsustainable business models. For this reason, the Fund will avoid investing in companies that:
3.Investing in a way that we believe is aligned with our investors The fund is promoted as an ethical fund and the ethical investment policy that it implements is set every three years following extensive client consultation. The current policy period is 2022-2025. During this period the fund will avoid investment in companies that we have been advised by MSCI (unless otherwise noted), as:
The fund will not purchase sovereign debt from countries agreed by CCLA and the Advisory Committee as being among the world’s most oppressive. In addition, remaining companies will be excluded if after persistent engagement, fail CCLA’s ‘controversy process’ on issues including:
The Ethical Fund has set an aspirational target to dedicate 5% of capital to investments that provide positive social or environmental objectives and meet standard risk–return criteria. The fund is also managed in accordance with CCLA’s responsible investment process and takes a positive approach to stewardship as defined in the UK Stewardship Code for institutional investors. CCLA’s response to this code and its voting and engagement records are available at www.ccla.co.uk. The fund will take an active policy with regard to corporate actions and voting as required.
4.Implementation of the policy Should a portfolio holding cease to comply with the above approach, the Investment Manager will establish a 6-month divestment window for the asset to be sold. This ensures that shareholders are not financially disadvantaged by the Fund becoming an immediate forced seller.
Process:The focus of our responsible investment process is preserving the long-term value of our clients’ investments by delivering positive change. However, to protect short- and medium-term value, we fully integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our investment process for listed equity and fixed interest. We believe that this allows us to better assess and control financial risks, that are not often visible through the lens of conventional financial analysis.
We believe that ESG factors are of increasing importance as regulation, legislation and changing consumer preferences will increasingly embrace the importance of sustainability. This means that businesses involved in the most unsustainable activities are likely, over time, to be punished. So, we assess each company prior to purchase.
This assessment, and some of our subsequent active ownership work, is based on four themes:
In researching a company, we use data provided by third parties (including MSCI, Sustainalytics and Credit Suisse), supplemented by in-house analysis, to identify companies that are not meeting the standards of their peers.
In each theme we use data and due-diligence meetings with company management prior to making an investment. We review companies’ policies for managing ESG risks, how they are performing in managing those risks and assess whether companies have been involved in any ESG-related controversies. Taken together this analysis allows us to identify, and remove from our investment universe, the most unsustainable businesses and develop appropriate engagement action plans to help others move forward.
The focus of our responsible investment process is preserving the long-term value of our clients’ investments by delivering positive change. However, to protect short- and medium-term value, we fully integrate ESG factors into our investment process. We believe that this allows us to better assess and control financial risks, that are not often visible through the lens of conventional financial analysis. We believe that poor ESG standards at companies is of increasing importance as regulation, legislation and changing consumer preferences will increasingly embrace the importance of sustainability. This means that businesses involved in the most unsustainable activities are likely, over time, to be punished. So, we assess each company prior to purchase.
We use data and due-diligence meetings with company management prior to making an investment. We review companies’ policies for managing ESG risks, how they are performing in managing those risks and assess whether companies have been involved in any ESG-related controversies. Taken together this analysis allows us to identify, and remove from our investment universe, the most unsustainable businesses and develop appropriate engagement action plans to help others move forward.
As a result of this process, using MSCI SFDR Adverse Impact Metrics, the fund has better-than-benchmark corporate governance ratings and a carbon footprint that is approximately one third of that of the MSCI World Index.
Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies:
CCLA works to drive change through active ownership (Act), CCLA’s work to integrate financially material ESG issues into our equity investment processes (Assess), and work to align investment portfolios with client values (Align) across all asset classes. The core governance framework for Sustainability team is encapsulated in the following: Align: we employ pre-trade compliance systems to ensure that constraints and controls are observed, and ex-post daily checks are conducted by Compliance. Ethical restrictions are coded to individual asset level, and we employ third-party data for ethical screening. Assess: material non-financial risk is integrated into our equity investment process. Sustainability team members attend the weekly stock meeting where stock investment cases peer reviewed, and agreement reached on stock specific decisions. The team ensure that non-financial risks are integrated into stock notes and that where investments in high-risk companies are considered that Investment committee approval is sought before we move forward to investment. Act: the engagement leads for each of key themes: Better Health, Better Work and Better Environment meet weekly to discuss progress against predetermined engagement aims. All engagement projects require prior Investment Committee approval. In addition to the above the Sustainability team is required to report quarterly to Investment Committee meeting (quarterly) – this provides executive oversight of the equity investment process, review of results and approval/adoption of high-risk investments and engagement programmes. DialshifterThis fund is helping to ‘shift the dial from brown to green’ by… Acting to increase the pace of climate action by leading impactful engagements with the companies that we invest in and pushing policymakers for progressive regulation and legislation
Our organisation is helping to support the Paris Climate Agreement and the Race to Net Zero by… Achieving Net zero through action, not transactions. While carbon footprints are an important tool in managing the ‘climate exposure’ of portfolios, we believe that it is better to achieve ‘net zero’ by working to achieve real emissions reductions rather than solely buying low carbon assets and selling carbon intensive ones to other investors. This approach seeks to assist with reducing global emissions, and accelerating the fight against climate change, rather than just making our own portfolio metrics look good.
SDR Labelling: Unlabelled with sustainable characteristics Voting RecordDisclaimerDisclaimer Important information This document is a financial promotion and is for information only. It does not provide financial, investment or other professional advice. To make sure you understand whether our product is suitable for you, please read the key investor information document and prospectus and consider the risk factors identified in those documents. We strongly recommend you get independent professional advice before investing. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. You may not get back the amount you originally invested and may lose money. The fund can invest in different currencies. Changes in exchange rates will therefore affect the value of your investment. Investing in emerging markets involves a greater risk of loss as such investments can be more sensitive to political and economic conditions than developed markets. The annual management charge is paid from capital. Where charges are taken from capital rather than income, capital growth will be constrained and there is a risk of capital loss. Any forward-looking statements are based on our current opinions, expectations, and projections. We do not have to update or amend these. Actual results could be significantly different than expected. Investment in a CCLA COIF Charities fund is only available to charities within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Charities Act 2011. The CCLA COIF Charities funds are approved by the Charity Commission as Common Investment Funds under section 24 of the Charities Act 1993 (as has been replaced by the Charities Act 2011) and are Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes and unauthorised Alternative Investment Funds. Issued by CCLA Investment Management Limited (registered in England & Wales, No. 02183088, at One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. CCLA Fund Managers Limited (registered in England & Wales, No. 8735639, at One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is the manager of the COIF Charities funds (registered charity numbers 218873, 803610, 1093084, 1121433 and 1132054). |