ACTIAM and KBIGI JOIN INVESTOR COLLABORATION ON FARM ANIMAL WELFARE

PRESS RELEASE
30 April 2019

 

ACTIAM AND KBI GLOBAL INVESTORS JOIN THE BBFAW GLOBAL INVESTOR COLLABORATION ON FARM ANIMAL WELFARE

ACTIAM and KBI Global Investors have become the latest investors to join the BBFAW Global Investor Collaboration on Farm Animal Welfare.

The participating investors engage with the companies - including food producers, retailers and wholesalers, and restaurants and bars - covered by the Benchmark, commending leading and improving companies on their performance, and encouraging poorer performers to strengthen their approach, management systems and processes, and performance reporting on farm animal welfare.

The collaboration is now supported by 24 institutional investors representing a total of £2.4 trillion in assets under management. The participants are: Aberdeen Standard Investments, ACTIAM, Australian Ethical Investments, Aviva Investors, BMO Asset Management, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Brunel Pension Partnership, Candriam, Castlefield Investment Partners LLP, the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church, Coller Capital, EdenTree Investment Management, Epworth Investment Management, Karner Blue Capital, KBI Global Investors, NEI Investments, Rathbone Greenbank Investments, Robeco, Schroders, Sonen Capital, The Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge Trust, Trillium Asset Management, Triodos Bank and Walden Asset Management.

Eoin Fahy, Head of Responsible Investing, KBI Global Investors commented: “Farm animal welfare is a major source of investment opportunity and of investment risk in the food and natural resources sectors. Participating in the BBFAW collaboration allows us to work with other investors to clearly communicate our expectation that companies will improve their practice and performance on farm animal welfare. These improvements will help us to deliver more sustained and sustainable investment returns over the short- and the long-term.”

Maxime Molenaar, Responsible Investment Officer, ACTIAM commented: “Animal welfare has been part of our sustainable investment approach for many years. We recognise that we have a responsibility to encourage the many food and agriculture-related companies in which we invest to adopt higher standards of farm animal welfare. Joining the BBFAW Investor Collaboration allows us to share expertise, to work effectively with other investors, and to support wider investor efforts in this area.”

Dr Rory Sullivan, Expert Advisor to BBFAW commented: “Investors have a key role to play in improving farm animal welfare across the food industry. In joining the BBFAW Collaboration ACTIAM and KBI Global Investors are sending a clear signal about their expectations of companies, and they are helping amplify and reinforce the messages being send by the other investors participating in the Collaboration."

ENDS

Download PDF