Eighteen institutional investors, representing £1.5 trillion in assets under management, have become the founding signatories to the first investor statement on farm animal welfare.
The signatories state that they believe that farm animal welfare is potentially material to long-term investment value creation in the food sector. They commit to taking account of farm animal welfare when analysing food companies and to encouraging high standards across the food industry.They also point to the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare as a framework that can be used by companies and by investors to guide their work on farm animal welfare.
Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare Programme Director, Nicky Amos, commented: “This is the first time that institutional investors have supported a formal public statement on farm animal welfare. It is a clear sign that we farm animal welfare is transitioning from being seen as a niche ethical issue to one that is recognised as an important source of business risk and of opportunity”.
Dr Rory Sullivan, Expert Advisor to the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare added: “The Business Benchmark has played a catalytic role in changing investors’ views on farm animal welfare. It provides investors with a robust, independent and credible assessment of corporate practice and performance on farm animal welfare, and is presented in a way that enables these to be incorporated into investment models and to underpin engagement programmes.”
We are delighted to announce we are holding an in-person launch event for the release of the 2023 Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW).
8th April 2024NN Group, a Dutch financial services company, with a strong presence in several European countries and Japan, has become a member of the BBFAW Global Investor Collaboration on Farm Animal Welfare. As a signatory to the Collaboration, NN Group will participate in an annual engagement to improve animal welfare management practices amongst BBFAW’s 150 global companies.
26th February 2024In March and April 2023, the BBFAW conducted a pilot assessment of 150 companies against the new 2022 benchmark criteria. Instead of the usual public BBFAW report, this briefing paper summarises methodological findings from the BBFAW 2022 pilot benchmark and includes case study examples of company reporting. The briefing also confirms the assessment approach for the BBFAW 2023 assessments, which are scheduled to take place in October to December 2023.
31st July 2023