Fidelity International released its annual Sustainable Investing Report 2023, entitled Nature Positive. The report details Fidelity’s approach to sustainable investing and the progress made in 2022 in several key areas of the ESG dimension.
“As an asset manager, Fidelity remains committed to climate change mitigation and, through this report, recognizes the weight of nature in achieving emissions neutrality and the power of effective governance in driving systemic change,” the firm said.
Jenn-Hui Tan, Fidelity International’s Global Head of Sustainable Investment and Oversight, commented: “Despite the enormous challenges of geopolitics and inflation that plagued economies in 2022, sustainable investing continues to evolve apace and our focus is shifting as systemic issues, such as nature, become more relevant. As around half of the world’s GDP is heavily or largely dependent on nature, we realize that reversing the loss of nature is vital to ensure the long-term prosperity of the global economy.”
Some of the highlights of the report include updating the Sustainable Investment Principles to reflect the evolving approach to active ownership, and introducing an Influence Framework to identify opportunities for dialogue with stakeholders around issues of systemic importance over several years.
On the other hand, the development of Fidelity’s ESG tools to drive dimension integration. In this regard, with the deployment of climate ratings, the ODS tool and ESG ratings currently cover around 4,000 companies.
In addition, the report highlights that the thermal coal thematic dialogue program was launched, designed to accelerate the phase-out of thermal coal by 2030 in OECD markets and by 2040 globally, in line with the IEA’s 2050 net zero emissions scenario.
Finally, Fidelity highlights the development of a Deforestation Framework that “will help deliver on our commitment to do everything in our power to address the risks of deforestation caused by commodity sourcing in our investment portfolios by 2025 and, on neutrality.”