Acting for the climate when there is still time

Undeniable urgency

Fires, storms, floods… Climate change is the leading cause of the doubling of natural disasters around the world over the past two decades.

So the ice in Antarctica is melting six times faster than it was forty years ago and temperature records are rising. Other significant figures: the IPCC estimates that in 6 months mankind consumes all the resources the planet can produce in a year; Meanwhile, the Swiss RE announced a $ 105 billion natural disasters bill in 2021, an increase of 17% from the previous year, and shows the trend towards an increase of 5% to 6% per year. year on losses for insurers.

So how can we limit the global warming trajectory to 1.5 degrees when everything is crazy? How to act on the aspirations of the States, and finally succeed the COP26? How to bring in other actors, especially businesses and consumers?

Finance as a lever for action

At Ecofi, we are convinced that finance is a powerful lever for action. A long-standing commitment to Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) and solidarity finance, our raison d’être, which drives our status as a mission-driven company, affirms our desire to “Resolve financial performance and respect for people and the planet. »

Therefore, for us, achieving long – term performance requires finding companies that can meet tomorrow’s environmental challenges. This means dealing with the depletion of resources, managing new government regulations. These requirements are reinforced by the expectations of citizens, who are “similar actors”. Avoiding strand assets, and investing in innovative companies on environmental, social and governance aspects, is therefore an issue.

A committed and evolutionary approach

A pragmatic approach involves adapting our climate policy to environmental challenges. So we strengthened our climate policy at the beginning of 2022 through 3 structured decisions:

• following the exclusion of coal, we have decided to phase out fossil fuels and, at present, a complete move away from non – traditional fossil fuels. [1] and companies whose activity is primarily focused on oil extraction, production and refining / transportation;
• Carbon intensity is now integrated into the management objectives of our IMPACT SRI process – scope 1, 2 and 3 of course! – ensure that it is lower than the investment universe;
• Epargne Ethique Actions, a Eurozone equity Sicav eligible for PEA and SRI labeled, has been transformed into Sicav aligned with the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) d 2050 Sustainable Development Case (SDS 1.5 ° C).

Challenge companies to move the lines

We support this policy through strong stakeholder participation through voting and dialogue on ecological and energy transition issues. Examples?

Ecofi encourages companies to submit a resolution on its climate strategy to the vote of shareholders. For dialogue, we have had individual discussions with ANSYS or Corbion on a number of ESG issues such as environmental impact of products, greenhouse gas emissions, alignment with the Green Taxonomy, etc.

Together, Ecofi supported the “EV100” dialogue coordinated by the English NGO Share Action, which aims to support companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, electrify transport and accelerate the implementation of a clean economy. Through this initiative, Ecofi reached out to 11 investment companies: Allianz, AXA, Carrefour, Continental, Danone, Deutsche Telekom, Engie, Orange, Sanofi, SAP, Veolia.

Thematic funds to act on your investments

Our range of open funds, 100% SRI [2], which addresses these issues. To invest in ecological and energy transition, we promote our Ecofi Agir pour le Climat fund, which invests in eco-activities and green bonds. It is the only market fund with the 3 French labels: ISR, GreenFin (green) and Finansol (solidarity).

Concerns about fair transfer, which take into account social impacts, other Ecofi funds act on behalf of people and the planet, with broader themes, such as health, resource management or education. These are Ecofi Enjeux Futurs, Ecofi Trajectoires Durables and Ecofi Convictions Monde.