Monday, 12 September 2022
Aware Super is proud to be recognised as a Responsible Investment Leader by the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia (RIAA) in their landmark annual study which found a record $1.54 trillion of Australian assets are now managed using a rigorous responsible investment approach – or 43% of the total market.
Aware Super’s Head of Responsible Investments, Liza McDonald, said as one of Australia’s leading super funds managing over $150 billion of its members’ retirement income, the certification endorsed the fund’s commitment to responsible investing.
“Aware Super recognises that in discharging our duty to safeguard the retirement income of our 1.1 million members, we must take a long-term approach to investing,” she said.
“The rigorous investment processes we adopt, where our responsible investing principles permeate all investment decisions, are fundamental to not only future proofing our assets but also help generate stronger returns to grow our members’ retirement income pool.”
The Responsible Investment Benchmark Report Australia 2022 researched in collaboration with EY, shows excellence in responsible investment materialises into substantial financial returns. In 2021, products certified under RIAA’s Responsible Investment Certification Program on average outperformed the market in the medium to long term, and over some time frames achieved two or three times the returns.
The report also shows a record 45% of investment managers are holding companies to account on matters relating to environmental and social issues, and reporting back to investors on the outcomes achieved. This number has more than doubled in the past two years, with only 21% of investment managers engaging in such activity in 2019.
Aware Super joined a record 74 investment managers out of 140 which were identified as Responsible Investment Leaders, who explicitly and systematically consider ESG factors in the allocation of capital, and are decidedly transparent, reporting publicly not just on their activities to improve environmental and social sustainability, but also the outcomes they achieve.
Read the report here: https://responsibleinvestment.org/resources/benchmark-report/