Deep Dive #5: Net Zero Carbon: 2021
Montanaro Asset Management was founded in 1991 by Charles Montanaro. We are an independent investment boutique focused exclusively on quoted Global Small & MidCap equities. We view our clients as our partners and seek to grow their investments sustainably over the long-term.
We are a B Corporation, a business certified for meeting the highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. At the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid (COP25), Montanaro joined fellow “B Corps” by announcing a net zero carbon target for its business which it will seek to achieve by 2030.
In 2019, as we began work on achieving our net zero carbon target, we launched “Project: Net Zero Carbon”, a long-term engagement effort targeted at encouraging our investee
companies to set climate-related targets of their own. At the end of 2020, we published the first summary of our net zero engagements.
This report focuses on our net zero carbon engagements in 2021. While last year we focused on the holdings within our Better World Fund, this year we have expanded the project across the Montanaro Approved List, a list of approximately 260 companies that were approved for potential investment by our Investment Committee following thorough due diligence. This has allowed us to learn about a broader group of companies, markets, sectors and geographies and support even more businesses with their environmental objectives.
It has been another ground-breaking year on the Sustainability front for our investment team. We were fortunate to play a small role at COP26 as a member of the GFANZ Real Economy Transition Plans taskforce, chaired by Mark Carney. We also co-chaired the B Corp Finance Coalition, which led a coalition of investment companies to COP. One member of our team was even fortunate enough to meet John Kerry, US Climate Envoy, at the conference.
Our engagement work helps us to assess, understand and influence the ESG risks and impact opportunities of the businesses in which we invest. This has helped us to deliver strong investment returns to our clients during the year. Supporting these aims is what ultimately sits at the heart of Project: Net Zero Carbon.
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