Responsible ownership

Stewardship: Engagement and Voting

Stewardship means actively monitoring and engaging with the companies we invest in and the fund managers we partner with.

We aim to positively influence the policies, behaviours and practices of the companies in which we invest in areas such as:

• climate change
• worker safety
• diversity
• company conduct and culture, and
• cultural heritage management.

As a large investor, we use our voting rights to support actions we believe will be beneficial to and enhance value for our members.

We are a signatory to the Australian Asset Owner Stewardship Code. As a signatory, we have developed a Stewardship Statement which shows how we apply these principles.

For information on our Stewardship activity read our:

• Responsible Investment Report.
• Voting reports

Engagement through our partners:

• Aware Super / Federated Hermes 2024 Annual Review report
• Aware Super / Federated Hermes 2023 Annual Review report
• Aware Super / Federated Hermes 2022 Annual Review report
• Aware Super / Federated Hermes 2021 Annual Review report
• Read about our engagement through ACSI in ACSI's Annual Reports

Investment restrictions

Our preference is to use engagement and proxy voting to positively influence the behaviour and ESG practices of the companies we invest in.

However, in some circumstances we do restrict certain sectors or companies from our investment portfolios.

We have implemented the below fund-wide restrictions¹ subject to the notes below:

• Tobacco
  • In 2012 we were one of the first super funds to divest from tobacco, setting a precedent in the industry.
  • We have no direct investments in tobacco manufacturers and/or producers which derive 5% or more of their revenue from the manufacture and/or production of tobacco products.
• Thermal coal
  • We have no direct investments in companies generating 10% or more of their revenues directly from mining thermal or energy coal.
• Controversial weapons
  • We have no direct investments in companies verifiably involved² in the manufacture and/or production of anti-personnel mines, biological weapons, chemical weapons, cluster munitions, depleted uranium, incendiary weapons and white phosphorous weapons (whole systems or key components³).
  • We have no direct investments in companies verifiably involved² in, and deriving 5% or more revenue from, the manufacture and/or production of nuclear weapons (whole systems or key components³).
     

It’s important to keep in mind that: 
 

• Our investment options may have an indirect exposure to companies involved in these industries because the fund-wide restrictions don’t apply to indirect exposures. This includes derivatives, exchange-traded products such as ETFs, securitised assets (financial products that give the holder exposure to a pool of loans, bonds or other debt products) and investment vehicles governed by an uncontrolled entity including, but not limited to, unit trusts and fund of funds via pooled vehicles.
• The Trustee may acquire an interest in assets we would otherwise seek to restrict or exclude as a result of a merger with another super fund. If this occurs, the relevant assets will be sold at fair value as soon as reasonable practicable.
• We do not exclude companies that provide goods or services to companies generating revenue from tobacco products, thermal coal or controversial weapons, or that are involved in the distribution or deployment of these items.
• We rely on data provided by ISS STOXX to apply the fund-wide restrictions for directly held liquid investments such as shares and bonds. For more information on ISS STOXX’s methodology refer to their website. The most relevant documents include the ‘Energy & Extractives Screening’, ‘Controversial Weapons Research’ and ‘Sector-Based Screening’ methodology and research process papers.⁴
• Implementation of these restrictions may be affected by the accessibility and accuracy of data or external service provider errors. This may result in inadvertent holdings, typically over the short term, in investments we are seeking to exclude. If this occurs, we will endeavour to divest as soon as reasonably practicable.
• We do not automatically exclude companies’ subsidiaries, joint ventures or bond issuers; each is assessed on its own verifiable involvement in the relevant activity. For example, if a company is excluded due to its involvement in controversial weapons, its subsidiary will only be excluded if it is assessed to be verifiably involved in controversial weapons based on its own activities.

¹ The fund-wide restrictions differ from those in the Socially Conscious options. Restrictions and exclusions in the Socially Conscious options are broader and apply to all assets (except derivatives and securitised assets), and the revenue thresholds for tobacco, thermal coal and nuclear weapons are lower (i.e. stricter). See Socially Conscious investment options for more information. 

² For directly held liquid investments such as shares and bonds, this verification is undertaken by our ESG data provider ISS STOXX. For unlisted direct investments, an internal assessment is made.

³ A component is a key component if it plays an essential role in the functionality of the specified weapon system or is specifically designed or modified for the specified weapons.

⁴ ISS STOXX may change these documents and their titles at any time.

Measuring our positive impact

As a responsible owner, we seek to measure and monitor the impacts of our investments. We have responded to this opportunity by creating our Positive Impact Measurement Framework and Sustainable Development Investing Assessment methodology.

Measuring positive impact is critical to ensuring our investments are effective at instigating and maintaining change, compared to what would’ve happened without financing.

You can read more in our Responsible Investment Report.