Summary
No sustainable investment objective
Environmental or social characteristics of the finance product
Investment strategy
Share of investments
Monitoring of environmental or social characteristics
Methods
Data sources and data processing
Limitations of the methodology and data
Due diligence
Shareholder engagement policy
Designated reference benchmark
Summary
The Fund promotes environmental and social characteristics using environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis while excluding certain investments. The Fund does not emphasise or prioritise any single theme or sustainability factor, but takes sustainability factors broadly into account by focusing on environmental and social risks, opportunities and impacts relevant for each sector and investee company. To the extent that the Fund investis in financial activities that promote either environmental or social objectives, steps are taken to ensure that these sustainable investments do not cause significant harm to any sustainable investment objective. OP Asset Management uses several data sources from different service providers. Primary data sources are MSCI ESG Research and S&P Trucost, which provide information on topics such as the sustainability risks of investee companies, share of business operations with adverse impacts, climate risks and opportunities, and how the operations of investee companies align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. The service providers use both data reported by companies and estimates based on an assessment model developed by each service provider. Principal adverse impacts (PAI) on sustainability are regularly analysed by screening all investments for their PAI indicators. If screening reveals investee companies with significant principal adverse impacts on sustainability in comparison to its peers and if the said PAI indicator is deemed essential for the investee company, the investee company will be monitored more closely and excluded, if necessary. Also, a process to influence the company’s behaviour can be started.
No sustainable investment objective
This finance product promotes environmental or social characteristics, but sustainable investment is not its primary objective.
To the extent that the Fund invests in financial activities that promote either environmental or social objectives, steps are taken to ensure that these sustainable investments do not cause significant harm to any sustainable investment objective.
Principal adverse impacts (PAI) on sustainability are regularly analysed by screening all investments for their PAI indicators. If screening reveals investee companies with significant principal adverse impacts on sustainability in comparison to its peers and if the said PAI indicator is deemed essential for the investee company, the investee company will be monitored more closely and excluded, if necessary. Also, a process to influence the company’s behaviour can be started.
More information about how we take adverse sustainability impacts into account can be found in the document “Consideration of Principal Adverse Sustainability Impacts in Investing and Insurance Operations (in Finnish)”, which is available online at op.fi.
The OP Asset Management’s sustainable investment analysis model is used to check whether a company has violated international standards (UN Global Compact and OECD guidelines for multinationals). If a violation is identified, the company cannot be determined as a sustainable investment. The definition of international standard violations and company-specific analysis is based on the methodology of a third-party service provider.
Environmental or social characteristics of the finance product
The Fund does not emphasise or prioritise any single theme or sustainability factor, but takes sustainability factors broadly into account by focusing on environmental and social risks, opportunities and impacts relevant for each sector and investee company
- The Fund avoids investing in controversial activities and business with adverse environmental or social impacts.
- Investment decisions include analysis of the key sustainability risks and opportunities of the investee company and how the investee company manages them compared to its peers in the same sector.
- Positive screening is used to identify and allocate a certain amount of investments in business activities that promote one or several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Investment strategy
The Fund promotes environmental and social characteristics and, to ensure it, uses environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis and excludes certain investments.
Exclusion: The Fund excludes from its active direct investments controversial weapon manufacturers, mining companies producing thermal coal, power companies using thermal coal, tobacco companies, and companies that have breached international standards and where engagement has been unsuccessful. The list of exclusions is public. In addition to general exclusion rules, the Fund does not invest in companies whose principal business is in unconventional oil and gas extraction.
Use of ESG data in the investment analysis: ESG factors are considered in the investment process with the help of data by an external ESG service provider and the ESG tool developed internally by OP Asset Management. Considering ESG factors in the investment process means, for example, that the risks and opportunities related to the environment, society and governance are made transparent using selected indicators from each area.
Violations of international standards: The Fund is screened regularly for non-compliances with international standards. In the event that a non-compliance is detected, an influencing process is begun with the company in question. The aim is to make non-compliant companies change their practices and begin to comply with international standards in their operations. If influencing proves fruitless, the company may be removed from the Fund portfolio and placed on the exclusion list.
Minimum share of sustainable investments: In accordance with the minimum amount stated below, the Fund allocates investments into companies whose business promotes one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) without harming other sustainability factors or objectives. Sustainable investments are determined using OP Asset Management’s analysis model which is based on an external service provider’s SDG and sustainability data.
Assessing good governance practices: Analysing the target company’s governance is an important part of the investment process. To us, good governance is a key foundation for any company’s financial success, regardless of sector. When assessing governance, some of the areas considered include the appropriateness of the target company’s administrative organisation, the target company’s actions in relation to its personnel, and the target company’s rewarding and taxation practices. In assessing good governance, we use the analysis of third-party service providers and our own qualitative analysis if no external data is available. We screen the funds regularly to check them against the criteria of good governance. Minimum limits apply for these criteria.
Share of investments
Investments that promote ESG characteristics: 80%, of which 5% are sustainable investments.
Others: the Fund may also invest its assets in exchange traded derivatives and OTC derivative contracts and ETFs in order to hedge against the risk of adverse market movements, to replace direct investments and to otherwise promote effective portfolio management. ESG data may not be available for derivatives and ETFs.
The Fund might include investment options which are in line with the EU Taxonomy, but the Fund does not commit to a certain minimum number of investments in line with the EU Taxonomy. Currently, only few investment options in line with the EU Taxonomy are available, and there is a limited amount of reported information on compliance with the EU Taxonomy.
Monitoring of environmental or social characteristics
Portfolio managers have access to the Fund’s ESG analysis, which indicates, among other things, the weighted ESG rating, carbon intensity and share of green business of the portfolio. Portfolio managers also have access to comprehensive company-specific ESG data with which they can monitor the level of sustainability of investee companies.
Investments are regularly screened by ESG specialists for principal adverse impacts (PAI), exclusion criteria and international standard violations.
Fund-specific ESG indicators on environmental and social characteristics are reported on a monthly basis.
Methods
Sectors with adverse impacts to the environment and society defined by OP Asset Management are excluded from the Fund. The enforcement of exclusions is monitored regularly by calculating the Fund’s exposure to controversial and harmful operations and by screening the Fund using the criteria in the exclusion list.
The Fund’s investments are also screened regularly for violations of international standards using an external service provider’s analysis. If a standard violation is detected, the preferred option is to influence the company’s behaviour. If that is impossible or unsuccessful, the company may be removed from the Fund portfolio and placed on the list of exclusions. Identified standard violations and their related engagement processes are reported twice a year in connection with shareholder engagement reporting.
ESG factors are considered in the investment process where possible with the help of data by an external ESG service provider, the ESG tool developed internally by OP Asset Management, and the internal analysis model for assessing sustainable investments. Considering ESG factors in the investment process means, for example, that the risks and opportunities related to the environment, society and governance are made transparent using selected indicators from each area.
The internal ESG tool can be used to assess a company’s current state in relation to its peers in the sector in terms of ESG factors material for the companies as well as the company’s performance in these factors.
External ESG data can be used to examine the investee company’s targets for GHG emission reductions or current state in terms of the green transition.
The internal model developed by OP Asset Management for defining sustainable investments also provides relevant company-specific ESG data and gives an estimate of the company’s sustainability. Those investment options whose business promotes one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) without harming other sustainable factors or goals are considered sustainable investments. The Fund’s proportion of sustainable investments is reported annually in periodic reports, in addition to which portfolio management has access to data updated on a monthly basis on the share of sustainable investments of the Fund’s portfolio.
In addition to ESG tools applied to the investee companies, portfolio managers have access to fund-specific reports on ESG issues at the portfolio level. The reports allow portfolio managers to view the Fund’s weighted ESG rating, carbon intensity and share of green business, among other data. These values are also presented in comparison to benchmark indexes.
Data sources and data processing
OP Asset Management uses several data sources from different service providers. In corporate bond investments, the primary data sources are MSCI ESG Research and S&P Trucost, which provide information on topics such as the sustainability risks of investee companies, share of business operations with adverse impacts, climate risks and opportunities, and how the operations of investee companies align with UN Sustainable Development Goals. The service providers use both data reported by companies and estimates based on an assessment model developed by each service provider.
We also use materiality analyses by SASB and Bloomberg data on investee companies, based on which we have developed our own analysis model for investigating investee companies’ current level of sustainability and likely future performance.
The Fund also has access to Moody’s analyses on the ESG factors of investee companies and their impact on the company’s credit risk. In addition, the Fund uses ESG analysis on the ESG risks and opportunities of companies and other factors by Lucror Analytics.
The service providers we use have detailed and appropriate processes in place for ensuring data quality and correcting inaccuracies in the data.
When selecting new data packages and service providers, we carefully compare and analyse the data quality, coverage, methodology and reliability of each service provider. We regularly monitor trends in ESG data and service providers on the market to ensure the best possible data to support our investment decisions and client reporting.
Data sources are utilised either directly based on metrics or analysis by the service provider as well as by combining different metrics and using them for internal analyses and assessments by OP Asset Management. A part of the data is imported directly to OP Asset Management’s database, from which it can be used in internal analysis models and reports. Data is also used directly from interfaces offered by the service providers.
The share of data that is assessed depends on sustainability indicators and the sustainability factor under scrutiny, and it is not possible to give a universal definition of the share of assessed data of all ESG data. It is difficult to determine what portion of ESG data are based on reported information and estimates, respectively. In cases where reported data is available, it is used as the primary source. Third-party service providers must specify for each metric whether the data is reported by companies themselves or estimated using the provider’s internal model.
Limitations of the methodology and data
At the moment, ESG data is not fully standardised, and investee companies do not report on the data widely. This makes it challenging to compare investee companies. Service providers may use different methods for compiling, evaluating and analysing data. For these reasons, we carefully review the methodologies of service providers to ensure their suitability for our purposes.
The availability of ESG data is particularly challenging for companies with a High Yield credit rating, for several reasons. The companies may be smaller in size or not publicly listed. For this reason, several data sources must be used.
We also use several different service providers to enable us to assess certain metrics from multiple sources and fill any gaps in data.
Due diligence
The Fund is subject to exclusion criteria and is screened for international standard violations as described above in part (d) Investment strategy. A party independent of portfolio management oversees that the Fund complies with the criteria. The Fund’s material exclusion criteria are implemented in the trading system.
Shareholder engagement policy
OP is an active shareholder through its funds by voting in Finnish and international shareholders’ meetings, engaging in direct dialogue with companies and supporting joint initiatives by investors. OP's funds comply with the principles of shareholder engagement that take into account OP Fund Management Company Ltd’s ESG perspectives. These principles and the latest report on the implementation of shareholder engagement principles are available at op.fi/responsible-investing. Participation in general meetings of foreign companies takes place in markets where participation is cost-effective, taking into account their proportion of the Fund’s investments.
By 2025, OP Asset Management’s climate-related shareholder engagement will cover 70% of financed emissions, as measured by direct equity and bond investments by OP funds in high climate risk sectors (NACE categories A-H and J-L). In practice, shareholder engagement in these companies involves either voting at shareholders’ meetings, direct dialogue or joint initiatives by investors. In addition, the Fund is involved in shareholder engagement more broadly where necessary, such as in relation to good governance, responsible tax practice or business ethics.
Designated reference benchmark
The Fund’s benchmark index is not applied to the performance of environmental or social characteristics promoted by the Fund.
Data published on 1 January 2023
ISIN: FI0008807615