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Robeco

Robeco is a pure-play international asset manager headquartered in Rotterdam with 17 offices globally across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Africa. It joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative on 11 December 2020 and its initial target disclosure was published on 1 November 2021.

Initial Target Disclosure: November 2021

Percentage of assets covered by the Net Zero Asset Managers Commitment Statement

40% of total AUM (USD $87.3 billion)

Information on interim target(s) covering the proportion of assets to be managed in line with net zero

Baseline(s):

2019

Portfolio decarbonisation reference baseline

Portfolio carbon footprint: 104 tons CO2e per million EUR invested. This baseline will be subject to re-calculation, as we will correct for EVIC inflation, changing asset mix, changing composition of reference indices, improved data quality (e.g. Scope 3 emissions). Rules for re-calculating the baseline will be clearly defined and disclosed.

2019

Portfolio coverage baseline

Alignment of companies with net zero, in 2021, based on top-200 highest emitters in our investment universe:

• Companies that are fully aligned: 10%

• Companies that are aligning: 11%

• Companies committed to align: 24%

• Companies that are not aligning: 13%

• Insufficient data: 42%

Target(s):

2025

Portfolio decarbonisation reference target

For portfolio emissions, we aim at a 30% reduction of the carbon footprint (tons of CO2e per invested million EUR) by 2025, relative to 2019, with the ambition to reach 50% by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

In future we intend to set asset alignment targets, when data and methodology are more mature.

GHG scopes included:

We measure Scope 1, 2 & 3 of our portfolio emissions. In line with the guidance from net zero investing frameworks, our decarbonisation target is set and measured in terms of our bond and equity share of the absolute Scope 1 & 2 emissions of investee companies. As of FY2021, we will include Scope 3 of investee companies in our disclosures.

Methodology:

Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance Target Setting Protocol

Net Zero Investment Framework

Scenario(s):

7% emission reduction year-on-year is derived from the P2 model in the IPCC special report on global warming of 1.5°C.

Additional information

Proportion of AUM committed:

Segregated client accounts are out of scope initially, because our clients set their own decarbonisation goals. Whilst we will not initially set targets on carbon reduction in our managed accounts, we will review this every five years at least, with a view to ratcheting up the proportion of segregated solutions in line with attainment of net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. We will proactively provide our asset owner clients with information, expertise, and analytics on net zero investing, climate risk, opportunities arising from a lower carbon global economy and stewardship and engagement.

A number of asset classes are initially out of scope of our carbon reduction target for 2025, due to methodological limitations (Sovereign bonds; Robeco’s Green Bonds fund; Cash and derivates)

Policy on coal and other fossil fuel investments:

Yes. Robeco is a signatory of the Powering Past Coal Alliance. While we believe that engagement is the best route to accelerate emission reductions in the real economy, we do revert to exclusion in those cases where we see no positive engagement outlook. Concomitantly, Robeco excludes companies on the basis of the degree of their involvement in thermal coal, oil sands, and Arctic drilling.

• As of January 2021, Robeco implemented maximum revenue thresholds above which companies are excluded: 25% for thermal coal and oil sands and 10% for Arctic drilling for our Sustainability Inside fund range; 10% for thermal coal and oil sands and 5% for Arctic drilling for our Sustainability Focused and Impact Investing fund ranges.

• As of 2022, Robeco adds a new criterion to its fossil fuel policy regarding expansion plans for new unabated coal power plants. Based on the Global Coal Exit List, we will exclude a number of companies that are identified as developers of coal-fired power plants. If we are confident that the company may forego their coal expansion plan and instead adopt a transition strategy in line with a below 2 degrees objective, then we will initially engage with the company for a maximum period of two years.

Further information:

Target setting: Our decarbonisation targets are set at entity-level and will be reported as such. Internally, the target must be met by each investment block (fundamental equities, fixed income, quant equities) and the aggregate of their underlying funds. For each fund a baseline is set by taking the carbon footprint of its respective index by end of year 2019. Each fund is expected to decarbonise against that baseline, contributing to the aggregate target.

We measure current and forward-looking alignment of the highest emitting companies in our investment universe, as well as the climate performance of countries. We take these assessments into account for portfolio construction, engagement, voting and selective divestment. However, due to data challenges we are not yet able to set alignment targets at asset level. While we cannot set targets on investing in climate solutions, we are committed to grow investments in climate solutions in partnership with our clients.

https://www.robeco.com/en/insights/2021/10/roadmap-outlines-plan-for-move-towards-net-zero-emissions.html