In the last few years, the importance of responsible investing and matters related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors have increased significantly. The war between Russia and Ukraine as well as resultant energy crises have highlighted how nuanced and mindful we must be when making key decisions.
In our 2022 edition of the Momentum Investments Stewardship Report, we update our stakeholders on the progress that we made on our responsible investing journey and highlight some future initiatives and plans.
Ultimately, responsible investing is a long-term journey and any decisions that are made must properly consider their sustainability and robustness. The issue of climate change and climate resilience is a key factor that we must incorporate more centrally in our decision-making and approach. In our report you will see a myriad of initiatives that we have kicked off in this regard.
As sustainability is fundamental in our approach, we explicitly incorporate a Just Transition perspective when considering climate-related action. We are making steady progress and during the year, we became a member of the Climate Action 100+ initiative where we constructively and practically engage with Sasol and Eskom, alongside other major investors, on the climate agenda with these companies. To responsibly drive real change, we must be honest and practical about the potential trade-offs and consequences of actions in pursuing the climate agenda.
In this report, we highlight some of these real-world effects and we demonstrate how we have set targets for addressing the United Nations supported sustainable development goals we decided to focus on. The focus on clean energy and climate action is clear through our investments in renewables in addition to other key themes of inclusion and growth.
Purposeful and thoughtful transformation is an important imperative for our business to remain relevant into the future. To make meaningful progress, we highlight how we have approached transformation from within our own business as well as how we have engaged with the broader industry to enable responsible transformation through the investments we allocate. For us, the need for transformation is to create an inclusive and representative business that reflects the realities of South Africa and our own client base, so transformation and sustainability go hand in hand. We want to be a business that creates opportunities for all our employees and the industry. It is important to be mindful in our decision-making and fair to everyone, so that we do not inadvertently leave anyone behind or create invisible barriers.
Apart from the focus on climate and transformation, our latest Stewardship Report also provides an update on some of our long-standing initiatives. This covers areas spanning engagement to adherence to a variety of industry related codes and practices. These create the bedrock from which we will continue to grow and evolve our responsible investing initiatives.
Sustainability and responsible investing is close to our heart and I am proud to be able to provide feedback on the steady progress we are and will continue to make.
With us, investing is personal. Responsible investment practices contribute to our greater purpose, which is to enable businesses and people from all walks of life to achieve their personal financial goals and life aspirations. We help people grow their savings, protect what matters to them and invest for their future.
To read our latest Stewardship Report, click here.
