Impact Highlights
We pursue engagement in three ways: 1) operating as sustainable business ourselves, 2) advocating for the advancement of environmental, social, and governance capabilities in the financial services industry, and 3) through active shareholder engagement.
- We are a Certified B Corp meaning we are committed to people, planet, and profit equally. We assist our clients on the Certified B Corp process.
- We advocate for ESG issues in financial services in policy and regulations. We participate in sign-on letters namely on issues and regulations pertaining to greenhouse gas pollution and climate change. We write into the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to comment on building capacity for ESG reporting. We educate our federal and state representatives on the intersection of buildings' energy consumption, regulations, and sustainable investing.
- We are active owners insomuch as we communicate with companies we hold in our fund on an annual basis.
We have three active engagements:
1) Energy Consumption: Communicate to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to report year-on-year, comparable energy consumption metrics. Currently, we have communicated to 99 REITs on this particular subject. We are enthusiastic that we received a 30% response rate.
2) TCFD: Ask REITs to incorporate the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). TCFD builds on most company's existing disclosure and reporting protocols. TCFD asks companies to consider physical risks and transition risks to assets specifically based on climate change. It requires the company to publicly communicate their management approach, business strategy, business risk, and identify the relevant metrics in managing climate change. Additionally, TCFD challenges companies to model their business strategy taking into account different climate scenarios, including 2*C or lower. We've had direct dialogue with 123 companies; nearly 50% responded to our campaign. We had more in-depth discussions with half of those companies.
3) Science Based Targets: Request REITs commit to science-based emissions targets. Science-based emission reduction targets (SBT) are informed by climate science to keep world emissions below a 2*C increase in global temperatures set forth in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Private sector companies must act. The science-based targets pertain to all of a company's Scope 1 and 2 emissions and are categorized either as well-below 2°C or 1.5°C. SBT classification does not include Scope 3 targets. Currently, less than 40 publicly-traded REITs have committed to science-based targets. This is a new campaign for Vert.
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