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News Announcement

Impact Leader WHEB Focuses on Sustainability Solutions as Source of Investment Returns in Ground-breaking Report

• Quantifies positive environmental impact of each £1m invested in the fund.
• One of first investors demonstrating portfolio consistency with climate targets using ‘TCFD’ framework.
• 51% rise in AUM as investors meet Positive Impact and UN Sustainable Development Goals

Award-winning investor WHEB Asset Management has again broken new ground in measuring and reporting the positive social and environmental impacts of the FP WHEB Sustainability Fund in conjunction with financial return.

 

This specialist firm is one of the world’s first investors to report using both the G20’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), led by Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report states that in 2016 the FP WHEB Sustainability Fund:
• Helped avoid 1,600 tonnes of CO2e, diverted 140 tonnes of waste from landfill and treated 1.6m litres of waste water – for each £1m invested;
• Invested in companies which added 142,000 jobs to the economy – equivalent of creating a company the size of Gap;
• Contributed directly to 7 SDGs, with 35% of the Fund invested in companies that help to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being (SDG 3);
• Increased assets under management during 2016 by 51%, to £124m (AUM as at end of April £154m)

George Latham, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer said,
“Investors of all types are increasingly interested in the purpose of their investments, and understanding the impact their investments have on the world. The WHEB Fund is solely focused on companies providing solutions to sustainability challenges and this report builds on WHEB’s leadership in measuring and communicating the extent of this positive impact. We would encourage all investors, from the largest pension fund to the individual investor, to ask their advisors and asset managers for information on the impact of their investments.”

Seb Beloe, Partner and Head of Research said,
“Over the past three years, WHEB has developed increasingly sophisticated tools to measure the actual positive environmental and social outcomes generated by the FP WHEB Sustainability Fund’s investments. Our approach connects savers who have money in the Fund with the real-world impact of their investments. Investing can have a positive purpose, generating investment returns by helping to build a better future.

WHEB’s latest Impact report is one of the first in the world to report using the TCFD framework – a G20-backed system for climate-related financial disclosures which produced initial recommendations during 2016 and will release its final report in July 2017.

Latham added,
“For too long investors have blamed a lack of standardised climate information as a reason for not taking climate risk into account in their investment decisions. TCFD will remove that excuse, so we encourage all investors to embrace this reporting framework”

Alexander Hoare, co-Founder of Project Snowball LLP, an Impact Investment Partnership, added,

“Snowball searched long and hard to find public equities managers that aligned with our values – they’re not easy to find! We chose WHEB as our first Impact public equity manager. WHEB’s Impact report is a demonstration of leadership in Impact Investing; the team has developed its Impact reporting each year and provides detailed and carefully measured performance data on social and environmental themes alongside financial results. It cuts through the ‘ImpactWash’ and gives global investors a glimpse of what is possible if we back impact investment with mainstream capital”.

Notes to editor

About WHEB Asset Management
WHEB Asset Management is a specialist fund management business focussed on a single investment strategy. WHEB seeks to generate superior returns from global equities by investing in companies providing solutions to some of the most serious environmental and social challenges facing mankind over the coming decades.  WHEB’s corporate mission in support of this aim is to “advance sustainability and create prosperity through positive impact investments”.  For more information see: https://wheb.clientprojects.co.uk/

About Snowball LLP
Snowball’s mission is to build mass participation in Impact Investing. Snowball was created by pooling the Impact Investments of Golden Bottle Trust (a charitable arm of C. Hoare & Co.) and Panahpur and is building a dedicated Impact Investment organisation led by Peter Baxter and Paul Blyth.

For more information or for exclusive interviews with the WHEB team, contact:
• Paul Pizzala t: + 44 (0) 20 3219 3410|
• e: paul.pizzala@whebgroup.com;
or
• George Latham t: + 44 (0) 20 3219 3414|
• e: george.latham@whebgroup.com

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