Your investments and the SDGs
If you invest sustainably with ABN AMRO Asset Management, the quarterly reports show you how your investments are helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were established in 2015 by the United Nations, including Belgium.
Progress to make the world a better place
A total of 17 closely interlinked goals have been set. Each goal has underlying targets that help measure our progress to make the world a better place by 2030. The SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. They tackle the global challenges we face. The aim is to achieve these goals by 2030.
The companies you are investing in also affect these goals. The method we devised calculates both the positive and negative effects. Below we discuss how we present this in a transparent way.
SDGs in your reports
Each quarterly report focuses on one of the 17 SDGs. This keeps you informed of the content. We also show how your portfolio is helping or hindering the achievement of a better world based on the sustainability development goals and the portfolio's rating. To present this clearly, our data supplier ISS Oekom Research has set up specific sustainability categories to measure the impact.
15 measurable sustainability categories
Data supplier ISS Oekom Research has derived 15 sustainability categories based on the SDGs. These 15 categories (see table below) include 7 social and 8 environmental objectives. The table below shows the sustainability categories. The coloured numbers correspond to the 17 SDGs.
Based on these 15 sustainability categories mentioned in the above table, ISS Oekom gives each company the following ratings:
- Overall impact rating
- Environmental aspects rating
- Social aspects rating
- A rating for 15 categories
All these ratings are based on the following scale:
ISS Oekom’s method presents the assessment of the share that has a positive or negative impact on the sustainability categories. The method also enables investors to assess the impact of the investments on the SDGs. ISS Oekom does this by:
- Identifying companies and looking at how entire companies are having a positive or negative effect on the achievement of the SDGs based on the above five-point scale
- Identifying companies that offer solutions to specific goals, such as reduced water usage or gender equality
The total impact rating in your report is made up of the social and environmental ratings of the underlying targets. Each company receives a rating for each category based on the underlying ratings for those two categories. These two ratings ultimately determine the overall impact rating. The ratings are weighted based on the part they play in the portfolio, so the ratings are relative. This means a company that only represents a very small part of the portfolio has less of an effect.
Your quarterly report will include a pie chart and a bar chart as shown below, albeit likely with different figures. This shows the impact your overall portfolio is having with regard to the different SDGs, how this compares with the benchmarks and what positive or negative impact your company is having for each development goal.
Pie chart
The purpose of the pie chart is to show the portfolio's overall impact. It shows the weighted average of all the companies you are investing in. This includes both the positive and negative impact of the portfolio. It is based on the total ISS Oekom SDG rating. An example is shown below.
Bar chart
The purpose of the bar chart is to show in which of the 15 sustainability categories (based on the SDGs) the portfolio is having a positive or negative impact. The total portfolio may also have neither a positive nor a negative impact in a certain category. We show the weighted impact for each goal. An example is shown below.
