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Specialist in Asia Pacific, Japan, China, India and South East Asia and Global Emerging Market equities.
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At Stewart Investors, we believe in putting people first. Our investment world-view is of a series of partnerships – with each other, with our clients, with the companies we invest in, the people who buy their goods and services, and with the wider society in which we all live and work.
Discover moreAt First Sentier Investors, we're driven by our Responsible Investment principles. Our commitment to RI research and analysis on topics of importance to ourselves and our clients enables us to make more informed decisions that not only benefit our clients, but our environment and our society. To do this, we use a wide variety of tools and resources some of which are listed below.
As long-term investors, we know that the investment decisions we make today impact communities in the future. We review our RI strategy every three years to build on our approach to stewardship, and ensure we are proactively thinking about how to address emerging issues in our investment processes.
At firm level we are currently focused on the following four key issues: climate change, human rights and modern slavery, diversity and biodiversity.
Climate change
Why is it important to us?
In August 2021, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres called climate change a “code red for humanity.” Launching the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) latest report, he warned the world that “the alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable”.1
Just a few months later, the world’s leaders gathered in Glasgow for COP26, the biggest and possibly most important climate change conference to date. Nations took a range of decisions in the collective effort to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
While there were no perfect outcomes, the UN said that “after six years of strenuous negotiations, pending items that prevented the full implementation of the Paris Agreement on carbon markets and transparency have finally been approved.”2
Against this background, it’s fair to say that 2021 was an important year for climate change action.
1. United Nations – https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1097362
2. United Nations – https://unfccc.int/news/cop26-reaches-consensus-on-key-actions-to-address-climate-change
Human rights and modern slavery
Why is it important to us?
Modern slavery is a distressing and pervasive part of global supply chains and one of the most pressing human rights issues that investors can take action on.
There are multiple factors that drive modern slavery and allow it to flourish, including economic dislocation, endemic poverty and ongoing conflict and displacement. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these conditions, increasing the vulnerability of workers to modern slavery across the globe.
Diversity
Why is it important to us?
Diversity matters because people matter. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be included in a broad range of work, leisure and community activities regardless of their gender, race, sexuality or any other difference. It is the right thing to do.
Moreover, greater diversity leads to better outcomes for our staff, our clients and the community. Different ways of thinking and different life experiences create more varied teams who can make better decisions.
Within our own business, we believe that having an inclusive culture, where our people are comfortable and supported to be who they are, regardless of their background, is the foundation that enables diversity to thrive across our business.
We also recognise the challenges we face in achieving better and broader diversity in our business and wider industry. Although there is not one single solution to reaching this goal, we need to hold ourselves to account, just as we hold the companies we invest in to account on this subject.
Biodiversity
Why is it important to us?
Nature and biodiversity cannot be considered in isolation from climate change. The impacts of climate change such as temperature rises, increases in extreme weather events and increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are already having substantial impacts on nature. At the same time, biodiversity conservation is critical to addressing climate change, meaning that these issues are mutually dependent.
There are significant investment implications of nature loss. More than half of the world’s economic output – US$44tn of economic value generation – is moderately or highly dependent on nature.3 As the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures points out, “nature loss therefore represents significant risk to corporate and financial stability”.
Nature, Biodiversity and Nature-related Risk explained
According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, biodiversity is “the variability among living organisms from all sources”.
Nature is all the existing systems on earth - the features, forces and processes, such as the weather, the sea and mountains. As such, biodiversity is a crucial part of nature. Nature risk is related to the loss of natural assets. It may directly impact business’ or economies’ operations, or negatively affect society in a way that creates market risks.
3. Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures https://tnfd.global/
Exclusions
Our approach to exclusions is outlined in section 2.4 of our Global Responsible Investment and Stewardship Principles and Policy. Our current exclusions are as follows:
Controversial Weapons
- Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc
- Anhui GreatWall Military Industry Co., Ltd.
- BAE Systems PLC
- Bharat Dynamics Limited
- General Dynamics Corp
- General Dynamics Corp
- Hanwha Corp
- Larsen & Toubro Limited
- LIG Nex1 Co Ltd
- Northrop Grumman Corp.
- Poongsan Corporation
- S&T Dynamics Co. Ltd.
- Thales SA
- Walchandnagar Industries Ltd.
Tobacco
- Al-Eqbal Co. for Investment Plc
- Altria Group Inc
- British American Tobacco (BAT) Uganda Ltd.
- British American Tobacco Bangladesh Co Ltd
- British American Tobacco Kenya PLC
- British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd.
- British American Tobacco p.l.c.
- British American Tobacco Zambia P.L.C.
- British American Tobacco Zimbabwe Limited
- Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc
- Eastern Company
- Godfrey Phillips India Ltd.
- Golden Tobacco Limited
- Imperial Brands PLC
- ITC Limited
- Japan Tobacco Inc.
- Karelia Tobacco Company Inc.
- KT & G Corporation
- NTC Industries Limited
- Pakistan Tobacco Co. Ltd.
- Philip Morris (Pakistan) Limited
- Philip Morris International Inc.
- PT Bentoel International Investama Tbk
- PT Gudang Garam Tbk
- PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk
- PT Indonesian Tobacco Tbk
- PT Wismilak Inti Makmur Tbk
- Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S
- Swedish Match AB
- Tanzania Ciggarette Co. Limited
- Union Tobacco & Cigarette Industries Co.
- Universal Corp
Further resources
The following tools and resources have been developed by or are used by our Responsible Investment team and our broader investment teams.
Responsible investment reports

Read our latest annual Responsible Investment Report

Read our recent Navigating investment in a post-COVID world report
On 16 September 2019, Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) rebranded to First Sentier Investors. Any content produced prior to this date that references CFSGAM or Colonial First State Asset Management (Australia) Limited should be read as references to First Sentier Investors or First Sentier Investors (Australia) IM Ltd.
Material on this website is intended to provide general information only. Such material does not into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider these matters before acting on the information and consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement for any product named on this website before making an investment decision.
Total returns for the Funds have been calculated using exit prices after taking into account all ongoing fees and assuming reinvestment of distributions. No allowance has been made for taxation. Past performance is no indication of future performance.
The target market determination (TMD) for any fund mentioned on this website is available HERE and should be considered by clients or prospective investors prior to making a decision to invest to ensure that they form part of the relevant target market.
Any opinions expressed in videos are the opinions of the individual participant and are subject to change without notice. Such opinions are not a recommendation to hold, purchase or sell a particular financial product and may not include all of the information required to make such a decision. Before making any such decision you should consult a financial adviser.
Copyright © First Sentier Investors (Australia) Services Pty Ltd 2022, (part of First Sentier Investors, a global asset management business. First Sentier Investors is ultimately owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc MUFG.)
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