Church Commissioners for England – ESG Club interview


late into all parts of the world having the same point of focus. There is a certain element of being conceptual with the dif- ferent topics.


Like with net zero in the E, there isn’t that identifiable equivalent that everyone can pile into and push forward on within the S. So it isn’t, coming back to the initial point, that the S hasn’t been neglected as such, it is in fact more disparate across a lot of dif- ferent topics.


So, therefore, does a net zero equivalent need to be created on the social front? We want companies to respect human rights and we recognise social inequali- ties as a systemic risk. We want compa- nies to address social inequality or at least not become entrenched within it. And on those two things, it is unfortu- nately something that companies don’t coalesce around. There is no net positive on the social side because you cannot off- set human harms here by doing good stuff over there.


How does your responsible investment approach work overall? We are quite open about our responsible investment approach, which is set out by our RI and ethical policies. Our frame- work is to respect people and the planet. It is big and, as it is not either/or, relates to our increased positives and negatives in dealing with those risks.


The systemic risks we have focused on will guide our stewardship work on three levels: climate change, nature loss and social inequality. They also feed into the practical work as to where we should invest. And then there is the micro level, where we actually engage with assets and indi- vidual companies. And also on the man- ager level, where we integrate responsible investment into our manager selection so they improve and go higher up that level of responsible practices. Then there is the macro level, where we look at the big picture stuff – the environ- ment in which businesses operate in. So


that is how we translate the policy into a practical approach.


You are guided by the Charity Commis- sion’s rules: do they hamper your ESG ambitions? We are not an impact-first investor. The Charity Commission’s rules set out quite clearly that our charitable objectives are to supply sustainable returns to the Church. So that gives us nice clear parameters. Just because we cannot do concessionary investing it doesn’t mean we cannot have a positive impact at the same time. They hamper us in that respect – because it comes down to the objectives of the organisation. There is a box we are in within the rules and it is how do we do the best within that box to achieve what we want to achieve. For example, we had a green bond launch, which fed into the sustainability investments. So there is plenty like that we can do. There is a vast amount of impact that charity investors can have.


Issue 127 | October 2023 | portfolio institutional | 29


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