Our ESG approach

Since the creation of the group in 2010, ESG has been at the heart of Amundi’s growth story. Responsible investment was one of our four founding pillars and remains the cornerstone of our development, as demonstrated again by our recently unveiled 2025 ESG Ambition Plan.

As a responsible asset manager, our role is to deliver long-term sustainable value for our clients and all our stakeholders, by taking into account the major challenges our world and society are facing. We are convinced that the private sector must integrate environmental, societal and governance factors in its analysis and decisions for three main reasons:

1. Economic and financial actors carry a strong responsibility towards society
2. The integration of ESG in investment decisions is a driver of long term financial performance
3. The acceleration of our ESG ambition is the first lever of growth for Amundi globally

This commitment is reflected both in our responsible investment process (ESG analysis, ESG integration, exclusion policy, engagement and voting) and in the solutions range Amundi has developed, helping clients define and implement their own approach to responsible investment.

PRI Rating

The PRI granted Amundi an A+ rating, the highest possible score, in all categories1. We are proud of this international recognition of Amundi’s responsible approach and its ability to apply ESG criteria across equity, fixed income and private equity asset. This represents an international recognition of Amundi’s responsible approach and its ability to apply ESG criteria across equity, fixed income and private equity asset classes. A+ rating in all categories of the Principles of Responsible Investment 2020

Our expertise has received high quality international awards, amongst which:

At Amundi, all employees and business lines now integrate ESG in their approach. To meet our ambition and support our clients’ growing demand for sustainable investment, a dedicated ESG department was created, reporting directly to the CEO. With over 40 people worldwide, as of December 2021, the ESG department is divided in four poles:

The integration of ESG risks and opportunities into our analysis and investment processes is based on Amundi’s proprietary ESG scoring methodology. ESG ratings of our investee companies are calculated using 38 quantifiable ESG criteria and weights assigned by the analysts and combining the ESG scores obtained from our external data providers. We follow a best-in-class approach, selecting within each sector the issuers with the best ESG practices. At the same time, we follow a strict exclusion policy of the worst ESG-rated companies and specific sectoral exclusions of controversial industries (eg. thermal coal production and use, and tobacco).

We update our proprietary ratings on a monthly basis. The outcome of this aggregation and analysis, ranked from A (the best) to G (the worst), is now applicable to over 13,500 issuers. Our ESG analysts also review the application and weightings of the 38 criteria to each sector on an annual basis. This enables us to maintain quality and ensure we continuously seek to improve our analysis by considering the materiality and the weight of the criteria. Our proprietary “Stock Rating Integrator” (SRI) tool also enables total transparency. At any time, the rating assigned to a given company can be explained using a flower graph based on the company’s scores on the various criteria.

A founding pillar of Amundi’s strategy, ESG lies at the heart of our strategy now more than ever.

We firmly believe that a comprehensive analysis of a company, allowing to mitigate risk and spot opportunities, must integrate ESG criteria. In 2018, we launched an ambitious 3-year ESG action plan aiming at integrating ESG criteria in 100% of our actively managed open-ended funds. In 2021, we are proud to say that all the targets were met ahead of schedule and that we now benefit from an unprecedented level of ESG integration across all our investment platforms.

Social and environmental challenges are ever more pressing. Conscious of the progress still needed for all sectors and companies to align with the Paris Agreement while preserving social cohesion, Amundi wishes to go further. In July 2021, we decided to join the Net Zero coalition of Asset Managers. In February 2022, Amundi unveiled a new 2022-2025 ESG ambition plan, intended to accelerate its transformation to support a fair environmental transition.

This plan is based on three commitments:

1. In terms of saving and investment solutions, deploy new measurements and products to support a fair transition and increase the amounts ESG managed
2. In terms of voting and engagement with companies, extend our engagement scope and call on companies to define credible alignment strategies with the Net Zero 2050 objective
3. Amundi will apply to its own business what it asks of other companies, by reducing its carbon footprint and presenting a climate strategy to its shareholders.

Strengthen our offer in ESG saving products to serve sustainable development

1. 100% of actively managed open funds² will carry a transition assessment. All actively managed open funds will integrate the assessment of companies based on their decarbonisation efforts and their development of sustainable activities, with the objective to get a portfolio transition profile better than that of its universe.

2. Establishment of a "Net Zero" range of actively managed funds, across all asset classes.

3. €20bn in assets in impact funds to support investment having positive contribution in environmental & social cohesion. 

4. 40% of the total ETF range will be ESG to accelerate and facilities access to responsible investments.

5. Launch of "ALTO³ Sustainability", a technology support in decision-making for investors in environmental & societal issues

Deepen our engagement towards investee companies

6. Significant deployment of a climate commitment plan extended to +1,000 companies, so that they define credible strategies in terms of reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and alignment methods (remuneration, AGM)

7. Divestment from unconventional hydrocarbons by 2022⁴, representing over 30% of their activity⁵

Set objectives internally in line with our ESG ambitions

8. Extensive integration of ESG criteria into the remuneration policy

9. Reduction of Amundi's operational emissions by ~30% per employee

10. Presentation & advisory vote of "Say-on-Climate"

Given the vast amount of existing responsible approaches and strategies, we understand that ESG can appear like a new frontier for some clients. To ensure that our clients are tackling their ESG objectives, we offer a wide range of solutions from advisory, to investment solutions and services tailored to clients’ responsible investment needs.

<sup>1. Assessment report 2020
2. Scope of activity managed open-ended funds, when a transition rating methodology is applicable.
3. Amundi Leading Technology Operations
4. Application perimeter as defined by the Amundi RI policy
5. Unconventional extraction oil sand, shale oil & gas
6. Portfolio Management System</sup>