Hargreaves Lansdown has stepped up its commitment to responsible investing with a dedicated team of ESG analysts.
The team of three, led by Dominic Rowles, will manage environmental, social and governance risks for Hargreaves Lansdown’s platform, workplace and advice clients. They will oversee the firm’s ESG analysis processes, which leverage insights from the ESG dashboard, ESG data provided by Sustainalytics and third-party research.
Hargreaves Lansdown said the new team’s findings will help identify ESG risks and investment opportunities for the firm’s clients through share and fund research updates, as well as provide specialist insight to the firm’s multi-manager and select fund managers.
Dominic Rowles has been promoted to lead the new team from his previous role in the fund research team and is joined by graduate trainee Tara Clee, who specialises in policy and horizon scanning and Laura Hoy, who has joined from the equity research team. The trio will report to Emma Wall, head of investment analyst and research.
Hargreaves Lansdown is also imposing a number of exclusions across its Select Funds and the segregated mandates held within its multi-manager funds. These include companies that generate 20% or more of their revenues from thermal coal power generation and extraction; companies that generate 20% or more of their revenue from oil sands extraction; companies that generate revenues from the production, maintenance, sale or research and development of controversial weapons; and companies that persistently violate the 10 UN Global Company principles.
Dominic Rowles, lead ESG analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Today marks a significant step forward for ESG integration at Hargreaves Lansdown. We can now commit to avoiding controversial weapons, persistent UN Global Compact violators and companies that generate significant revenues from thermal coal or oil sands in any portfolios where we have direct control over the investments.
“We’ve also beefed up our requirements of the fund houses we invest with to ensure they’re doing all they can to adapt to and mitigate the climate threat we are facing. In addition, we’ve doubled down on our commitment to responsible investment with a significant investment in ESG data, which in time will allow us to offer unrivalled investment insights to our clients.”
Emma Wall, head of investment analysis and research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Our vision for ESG is to inspire confidence for a sustainable, resilient and successful financial future. For us, investing with ESG criteria in mind is simply good risk management. We want to help our clients invest in sustainable businesses.
“Sustainable businesses are more likely to have sustainable revenues, profits and dividends. We are committed to delivering great outcomes for our clients and believe our new ESG investment policy and stewardship and engagement policy, coupled with a talented and passionate team, will help us deliver this goal.”
Hargreaves Lansdown said all fund groups must be signed up to the UNPRI before their funds are considered for a HLAM investment solution and must have publicly pledged to net zero by at least 2050 and be working towards creating a transition plan to support this pledge before they will be considered for the Wealth shortlist. Those that have not set a target will face divestment after a two-year engagement period if they fail to comply.
