ESG: Why investors need a new way to engage with companies

Engaging with investees is at the core of ESG. But the issues are now so complex that we need another approach. Regnan’s ALISON EWINGS explains

• Investors need to rethink how they engage with companies
• A system-wide approach is needed
• Find out about sustainable investing leader Regnan

COLLABORATION and co-ordination among all parts of society are needed if sustainability goals are to be achieved, says Alison Ewings.

Company-specific engagement remains important for driving direct outcomes. But many aspects of meaningful change can only come when businesses, not-for-profits, researchers and governments share information and co-ordinate action.

That’s the approach Regnan’s head of engagement Alison Ewings is increasingly taking.

Sustainable investing leader Regnan last month hosted its first Director Roundtable on Sustainable Agriculture, bringing together senior executives and directors to identify barriers to sustainable agricultural and food production.

“There’s still a role for company-specific engagement, but the complexity of many of the ESG issues we’re facing means there are a host of instances where this approach is limited,” says Ewings.

Sustainable and 
Responsible Investments 
Fund Manager of the Year

Read more

Part of the problem is that individual companies are constrained in the sustainability outcomes they can achieve acting alone, she says.

Case study: agriculture

Agriculture is a case in point, with complex sustainability issues across the value chain including climate change, soil health, pollution, water scarcity, food waste and biodiversity and eco-system loss.

Growers can be limited in what they can do because they need to meet the specifications of supermarkets and food manufacturers.

There is evidence they are struggling to invest in sustainability because lenders and investors may not ascribe a value to improvements, says Ewings.

“You can go to a lot of effort to improve your soil health, but if that doesn’t show up in the value of your asset then you might question the investment,” she says.

Sustainability is further complicated by the many small companies operating in agriculture.

By their nature, many small companies also have lower capacity to invest in sustainability and may not benefit from the same technology and advice that scale allows larger companies enjoy.

Adviser Natalee is invested
in making our world

A better place.

Natalee shows us how
investment in affordable
housing changed a
woman’s life

Watch video

“And of course, not all of these entities exist in the listed space, so engagement sometimes means going beyond your investment universe, for instance engaging with private companies or industry associations representing these smaller groups,” says Ewings.

The waste industry is another example, requiring partnership across industry, regulators and academia to understand the full lifecycle impacts of the waste cycle.

Laws, regulations and practices differ from state to state and even between local councils, says Ewings.

“A system-wide approach is going to be required in order to change complex value chains,  that stretch across our entire economic and social system. For instance energy, finance and manufacturing.”

What needs to change

So, what are the barriers stopping Australia taking such an approach?

For starters, different levels of government are posing a challenge.

“There can be a need to harmonise state and local legislation where it creates inefficiencies or barriers to scale for solutions. The recycling space, for instance, comes up quite a lot.”

But business also needs forums away from the competition of business-as-usual where executives and directors can reflect and collaborate with suppliers and customers.

“A good example is the steel sector and ResponsibleSteel, an association across the supply chain that acknowledges the R&D challenge for low carbon steel are significant and therefore difficult for any single company to be able to invest enough to bring the change that is needed.

“Many of these challenges are multidisciplinary and so require a multi-stakeholder response, within and across sectors, as well as from consumers, governments and the right scientific minds.