Engage
By deepening the dialogue on ESG and stewardship, we aim to unlock value and enhance long-term investment returns.
Engaging to advance the cycle of sustainability
Sustainable investing does not end with an investment decision. Ongoing engagement helps us assess ESG risks and opportunities and allows us to influence corporate behavior in ways that can unlock value. Explore how we approach:
Risk and opportunity Assessment
Material ESG issues are strategic business issues that can affect financial performance
Understanding ESG issues broadly, as well as those that are material to specific industries or companies, helps us provide a holistic perspective, promote leadership on ESG best practices, and engage more effectively on our clients’ behalf.
Environmental
Issues like water efficiency feed directly into production costs, so a company with better environmental practices may merit a higher valuation.
- Carbon emissions
- Climate change adaptation
- Water management
- Hazardous waste management
Social
A company’s relationship with its employees, vendors, and the broader community can affect its reputation and competitiveness.
- Corporate culture
- Cybersecurity
- Supply chain management
Governance
Corporate governance practices attract scrutiny from investors around the world and can affect everything from share price to earnings potential.
- Executive compensation
- Board composition
- Succession planning
For illustrative purposes only.
Corporate engagement
The goal of our stewardship activities — engaging with companies and voting proxies on our clients’ behalf — is to support decisions that can potentially maximize the long-term value of securities we hold.
Our approach to proxy voting
2019 Significant global proxy voting report
Wellington’s central ESG Research team makes voting recommendations to portfolio managers, which are often informed by ongoing engagement dialogue with companies, consistent with our role as active owners and fiduciaries for our clients.
Global proxy policy and procedures
We vote proxies in a manner that we believe should maximize the economic value of our clients’ holdings over the long term.
Global proxy voting guidelines
We evaluate each proposal on its merits and vote according to our own guidelines — rather than automatically with management or per recommendations of third-party proxy providers.
ESG integration philosophy
We engage directly with company managements to identify and understand ESG risks and to positively influence corporate behavior.
Value Enhancement
By engaging with companies to better understand and advise them, we believe we can unlock long-term value for our clients.
Active ownership
Our sustainable investment portfolio teams only invest in companies that meet their standards. Companies typically care deeply about our opinions, as we can be the incremental buyers or sellers of their securities. Simply put, we don’t have to own what we don’t like.
Triangulating research
Equity. Credit. ESG. These teams often meet with company managements as one group. Having three types of research specialists inquire about interrelated issues can be a powerful catalyst for enhancing transparency, uncovering insights, and promoting action.
Size and scale
Our access to management teams and boards of directors gives us a voice to influence positive outcomes on ESG issues on our clients’ behalf.
US$1 trillion
in assets under management
2,000
clients worldwide
10,000
company meetings a year
As of June 2019
In practice
Helping one company boost competitiveness through better ESG practices
When a company takes steps to improve its ESG practices, it is a good sign. We work with management teams on constructive incremental solutions that we believe can add value over time.