tion progress involves answering a number of questions. Is this a good company using the technology and tools available today to decarbonise? If the technology is not there, how is the company going to transition and how is the business model evolving? Answers to these companies can determine if the divestment needs to happen and when the divestment should be.


Campbell: Data is a starting point, but we need analysts, creativ- ity and imagination. We cannot just apply things blindly. There’s lots of road for people to do good, interesting work here.


Is it easy to be a responsible investor in real assets, such as property? Logan: We have a sizable property portfolio, and some of those assets are not clean. But it is also not clean to demolish them and build shiny new buildings in their place, which involves a lot of emissions. We are looking at where we can improve the energy efficiency of our buildings. There is regulation pushing us in this direc- tion as well. Most of our assets are commercial properties and there will be certain milestones that we need to meet in terms


14 October 2022 portfolio institutional roundtable: Responsible investing


of energy efficiency. We want to be well ahead of that and not worry about an asset as a legislative deadline approaches. In infrastructure there is stranded asset risk. Moving from fos- sil fuel-based power production to one based on electricity is a transition you need to manage.


The final point I would mention on real assets would be some of the physical risks, such as floods.


Is that the way London CIV approach things? Jackson: We are calculating the footprint of our real asset funds. What is important to understand is that even when there is a net benefit, such as in our renewables fund, they still have an embedded cost of carbon.


Using the data analytic capabilities we have in-house, we calcu- late the embedded cost and environmental footprint of the funds we hold. Only then can we understand where there could be positive impacts to consider and optimise, or negative impacts to assess and mitigate.


The picture with infrastructure is sometimes more challeng- ing. Historically, ESG standards have not been reported on as uniformly in private markets as in listed equities and fixed


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