Liza McDonald is head of Responsible Investment at Aware Super, one of Australia’s largest super funds.
She and her team are responsible for the retirement savings of millions of Australians, but they also have shareholdings in companies all over the world, which gives them an opportunity to engage, and maybe even influence these companies to make positive change.
Aware Super has also integrated impact investing into their superannuation offering, they use an ESG and responsible investment overlay across their entire portfolio, plus, they have specific SRI funds that involve additional negative screens, for those who want their investments aligned with their values.
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On this episode…
Liza was generous in helping us understand her investment and analysis approach, as well as her philosophical view of using investment capital to drive change.
Aware Super is not only leading in being one of the largest funds in Australia, it’s also leading in terms of its approach to sustainability. They committed to net-zero last year, they’ve divested from coal, and they’re expanding their impact investment footprint.
We also dug into how Aware Super works with outside fund managers. We discussed the criteria they look for in terms of ESG and sustainability, and their plans to bring more of it in-house.
And, a small update on some of the numbers. The current status of Aware’s impact investing is: 14 assets, valued at $2.9 billion.
My key takeaway this week…
“If there are some companies that may not be fantastic, in managing ESG risks, or in a high risk industry, our approach is to engage with that company and to improve it. And I absolutely believe that as an owner, we can do that.”
Good Future’s Good Books
By Hugh McKay
It’s about how we can restore hope, rebuild trust and inspire optimism.
It came out last year on the back of the bushfires, and COVID. Going back to the core of human kindness and how we can keep some of that going after an extraordinary two years of just such devastation from the bushfires and the impacts of COVID.
It certainly inspired me to read on, and to think about how we can continue to be kind and think about people.
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