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The Investment Stewardship concept calls on investors to use all means at their disposal to create: long-term value for their clients and beneficiaries & sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society.

As a Responsible investor, Candriam pays particular attention to the corporate governance policies, structures and practices of the companies in which it invests on behalf of its customers and the funds under management.

Engagement and voting are at the centre of our investment strategy, and we remain close to our managers. However, Engagement is never an alibi. Escalation measures are taken when necessary.

During 2021, 274 issuers were targeted by our direct dialogue efforts, representing a total of 320 dialogues on a range of topics. These issuers account for 35% of Candriam AUM, based on corporate instruments (stock and bond instruments, direct lines).

Candriam believes that exercising our voting rights is a core element of our Conviction and our Responsibility as an asset manager. Voting is thus fully embedded in our sustainable strategy.

After two voting seasons under the COVID influence, 2022 did not bring any relief; it is another year where major external events shaped investor demand as well as what companies deliver.

Having passed the mid-year point, we are able to discern some major trends emerging from the 2021 voting season.

All around the world, there have been significant delays and cancellations of annual general meetings (AGMs) during the early stages of the pandemic, leading to audit process failures in Asian markets and other challenges. However, this did not stop some of the emerging voting trends, such as climate-related resolutions, which featured prominently at a number of important meetings.

The year 2019 was rich and eventful, spanning a complex list of topics. This summary focuses on our three Conviction Topics, which together accounted for more than two-thirds of our total direct issuer dialogues. These same three topics, Energy Transition, Fair Working Conditions, and Business Ethics, have marked our efforts over the last five years, and will be the stepping stones to 2020 and beyond.

Integrating ESG factors into the financial analysis of companies, engaging in constructive dialogue with them to encourage best practices and exercising the shareholder vote should be the norm for any committed investor for whom ESG is more than just three letters. At Candriam, these three actions have been a reality in our daily lives as investors for nearly 20 years.

Voting Dashboard since 2020

Teleperformance had historically been embraced by the sustainable community, with a reputation for understanding the importance of employee well-being. It receives awards for employee satisfaction, and includes employee well-being as a factor in its executive remuneration.

The pandemic changed the rules of the game at both individual and collective scales. It impacted the world economy from many different perspectives. Not only did it create a short-term financial strain, it also pushed several corporates to re-draft their long-term strategies.

Kingspan Group is an Ireland-based company that provides insulation and building envelope solutions. It has five operating divisions, with the production of insulation products accounting for over 80% of company’s business. Kingspan also offers a range of rainwater harvesting and flooding control systems, raised access flooring, daylighting, natural ventilation and smoke management solutions. As a leading producer of insulation solutions, the company operates in the sector which plays a significant role in the global energy efficiency push.

Governments, law enforcement agencies and corporates are rushing to adopt Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) with a hope of increasing security, as well as improving efficiency and customer experience. Investors are highly interested. FRT, along with other Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions, is a promising technology. Concurrently, its rapid deployment has raised major concerns about the impact on privacy, data protection and civil liberties.

SMID companies have fewer resources than their large-capitalization peers, yet are often growing faster. We apply our experience in Engagement campaigns to the special situations of these companies, beginning with their need to recruit, train, and retain employees, while competing against larger companies for the same workers.

The health crisis has caused more than 900,000 deaths in Europe1. But it has also illustrated the health sector’s tremendous drive for innovation in its search for solutions to the pandemic. Candriam’s aim in its investments in the health sector is to identify, amongst those companies capable of discovering and producing the solutions of tomorrow, the most innovative.

The impacts of Climate Change on the financial sector are already measured in the billions, just for extreme weather events. Add in other elements such as credit risks for banks, and delays in tackling climate change could cost financial companies up to $1.2 trillion over the next 15 years.

The Covid Crisis has put a renewed spotlight on the ‘S’ in ESG. Investors need more transparency to analyze not only the employee stakeholder, but the flexibility and preparedness of companies in crises such as Covid.

Teleperformance is a global leader in digitally integrated business services, including call centers or web platforms, with employees in 80 countries. As a service business, it is people-driven, growing to 330,000 employees and €5 billion in revenues over 40 years. Headquartered in France, its largest perations are in EMEA, India, the Philippines, the United States, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.

Amongst industries, the metals and mining sector is responsible for a large part of man-made greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and globally; not only directly, but especially through the end uses of its products after extraction and sale. BHP is one of the world’s largest mining conglomerates, and one of Australia’s largest corporations.

The age of the grey swan: Autocracies vs Democracies - Carbon Emissions - Food Security - Energy Transition

This controversial activity policy is the concrete expression of Candriam’s sustainability leadership. It defines which activities, due to their widely recognised ethical and economic unsustainability, are to be excluded from Candriam’s investment portfolios across asset classes. Candriam recognises the important role that asset managers play in tackling major global issues, such as health and climate change, and strives to be at the forefront of sustainability by advancing its policies and practices.

Climate change is one of the most urgent and important challenges that society and investors are facing today. It is also a source of opportunity for investors through the reallocation of capital and innovation that our responses to climate change are creating and will undoubtedly stimulate. As an asset manager, Candriam's responsibility is to preserve and develop the assets of its investors. Candriam therefore integrates climate change at every level of analysis and investment decision making as well as in the exercise of its role as an active and responsible investor.

Financial markets play a pivotal role in the financing of companies’ activities to support economic growth and foster innovation. However, economic development and growth should be sustainable in the long run benefiting everyone across generations. In 2015, both the COP21 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) clearly articulated the need to shift the emphasis from measuring economic growth to appraising and incentivizing sustainable economic development for all.

Sustainability is rooted in Candriam's operating model and forms a key part of our corporate culture. Candriam’s sustainable development strategy leads us to incorporate sustainability trends shaping the world of tomorrow within the process of defining our firm’s strategic orientations. Our philosophy is to establish and maintain a balance between responsible behaviour towards all stakeholders and the pursuit of sustainable financial performance.

Putting commitment into action. "At Candriam, we have used 2021 to make further material progress in our CSR roadmap, adding more vigorous targets in our mission to have a positive impact on the environment and society, and to be the best corporate citizen we can be for all our stakeholders" - Naïm Abou-Jaoudé Chief Executive Officer

Dispelling some common myths of sustainable investing. True or false: sustainable strategies underperform? Let’s put an end to overcoming misconceptions of sustainable investing!

In 2015, the year of the COPS21 conference in Paris, the global level of CO2 emissions reached 35.21 billion tons. In December that year, the Paris Agreement was signed, setting out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C compared to the pre-industrial levels.

We welcome the European Taxonomy, a guide to help drive sustainable investements and green the financial sector. Find out more about how the taxonomy can be implemented in our whitepaper.

In this paper, we want to demystify the terminology and abbreviations so that you can understand the benefits of sustainable investing without being overwhelmed by jargon and acronyms.

Positive and negative approaches in Sustainable Investing: better understand them to align your investments with values and create outperformance through ESG.

If you feel a bit lost faced with all the obscure acronyms that seem to be taking over the ESG debate these days, don’t worry, you are not alone in that situation. We have created this series of short briefing notes to provide you, as an investor, with the essential things you need to know to understand how what some have dubbed a “regulatory tsunami” will impact you and what you need to do next.

Are 'Sustainable' investments truly sustainable? What Environmental, Social, and Governance factors are actually included in your investment? Does your investment really do what it says on the label? David Czupryna's overview of the new EU requirements concludes they are likely to clarify the situation, while the lingo may be a lot to learn.

A guide to sustainable investing: Voting & Engagement – there is no sustainability without stewardship.

The Global Strategic Committee monitors the association membership and decides who represents Candriam within those associations. The principle is that ESG experts actively and regularly participate to RI working groups within industry associations and associations with an ESG purpose. Leading roles are also supported.

Candriam is committed to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). This commitment is reflected in all of Candriam ’s activities as well as promoted in our relations with our stakeholders including the associations Candriam is member of.