Engaging with companies on responsible investing challenges
is a driver of long-term value for clients’ portfolios
Unique issuers engaged by Amundi increased by 20% in 2023, reaching more than 2 500 and illustrated by 271 concrete case studies
As a pioneer in responsible investment, we are committed to develop savings solutions that take into account the risks & opportunities linked to the transitions the world is facing. We are also aware of its responsibility as Europe's leading asset manager and strives to fulfill our role as a committed investor and shareholder by supporting companies in their transition challenges. This means engaging with them on ESG issues with a constructive dialogue, and carrying out voting activities on behalf of our clients.
As such, our stewardship strategy (vote and engagement) has become one of the pillars of our global responsible investment philosophy: the company has committed to engage with 1 000 additional companies on their climate strategy by 2025 versus 2021. The objective is well on track to be met as we had engaged with an additional 966 companies as of December 2023.
We have published our new Engagement Report providing key statistics and a review of stakes, outcomes and key challenges on all engagement themes, sectors, geographies and types of issuers in 2023 (2023 Engagement Report – Brief).
The company’s engagement activity is differentiating on several aspects, notably in terms of quantity and quality, in terms of breadth and because of its consistency:
- It is carried out at scale by a large team of sustainable experts by sector, working in collaboration with all the investment platforms on the basis of a dedicated framework and robust methodologies;
- The stewardship responsibility is exercised on behalf of clients on all 5 continents, and on major sustainability factors;
- Commitment to consistency & transparency is ensured with the publication of voting, engagement and stewardship reports on a yearly basis.
2023 engagement statistics:
- Number of unique issuers engaged increased to reach 2 531 (+20% increase vs. 2022)
- Issuers were engaged across all geographies with a significant progression in Emerging Markets (+32%) and North America (+39%)
- Engagement covered a significant portion of financial indices’ capitalization:
- For equities 87% of the MSCI World and 72% of the MSCI EM
- For corporate debts 80% of Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate and 59% of JP Morgan CEMBI Broad Diversified
- 1471 issuers were engaged on climate, 618 on Natural Capital Preservation and 795 on Human Capital & Rights
- Over 40% of engagements closed in 2023 had a positive outcome
Jean-Jacques Barberis, Head of Institutional and Corporate Clients Division & ESG at Amundi, declares: « Year on year, we are strengthening our dialogues with issuers regarding environment, social, or governance matters. 2023 has been again a year of progress with more than 2 500 issuers engaged and a significant proportion of our engagements closed with positive outcomes. Progressively, the world real economy is engaging into the transition. At Amundi, our objectives and commitment have not changed: we will continue to do our best to engage companies in which we are invested on behalf of our clients to help them follow a positive dynamic because we think this is a driver of long-term value for clients’ portfolios. »
Caroline Le Meaux, Global Head of ESG Research, Engagement and Voting at Amundi, adds:
« As an investor, we consider that our responsibility is not only to assess the ESG quality of the issuers, their sustainability risks or their impacts on sustainability factors, it is also to actively asking them to better manage those risks as well as to get exposed to new growth drivers. We believe that actively dialoguing with our investees will drive positive outcomes having in mind that the major transformation of our economies can only occur if it is performed across all sectors and activities, in an organized manner between governments, customers, companies and financial markets. »