Veritas Investment Partners (UK) Limited
Veritas is an an independent business providing a discretionary investment service to high net worth individuals and charities, in the UK and internationally. Veritas joined the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in November 2022 and made its Initial Target Disclosure in June 2023.
Percentage of assets covered by the Net Zero Asset Managers Commitment Statement
83% of total AUM (USD $5.78 billion)
Information on interim target(s) covering the proportion of assets to be managed in line with net zero
Baseline(s):
Portfolio coverage baseline
By Financed emissions in material sectors, 6% of companies were determined to be aligned, 78% aligning, 1% Committed to Aligning, and 15% Not Aligned
Portfolio decarbonisation reference baseline
40,726 tCO2e
Carbon Footprint using EVIC: 14.7 tCO2e/$mn invested
WACI: 49.1 tCO2e/$mn revenue
Target(s):
Portfolio coverage target
By Financed emissions in material sectors, 8% of companies to be aligned, 88% aligning, and 4% Not Aligned.
Portfolio coverage target
By Financed emissions in material sectors, 98% of companies to be aligned and 2% of companies to be Net Zero.
Portfolio decarbonisation reference target
Carbon Footprint using EVIC:
- 50% reduction in emissions intensity by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.
- 90% reduction in emissions intensity by 2050 from a 2019 baseline.
WACI :
- 65% reduction in emissions intensity by 2030 from a 2019 baseline.
- 90% reduction in emissions intensity by 2050 from a 2019 baseline
GHG scopes included:
Scope 1 and 2 are included for all listed equities and bonds. Following PCAF recommendations for data quality, we prioritize S1+2 data according to the waterfall logic below:
1. Reported S1+2 (Market based)
2. Reported S1+S2 (Location Based)
3. S1+S2 Estimates from Bloomberg.
With regards to Scope 3, we will disclose our scope 3 carbon footprint. However, due to the inconsistent data quality and the journey most companies are on to calculate their own supply chain emissions, we have decided to not submit targets on Scope 3 carbon footprint target. We will review our decision to include scope 3 targets in 2025 as we anticipate reporting will be more robust.
Methodology:
Net Zero Investment Framework
Scenario(s):
The IPCC 1.5C/Net Zero Pathway P2: Sustainability Oriented Scenario was used.
Additional information
Proportion of AUM committed:
Our initial target encompasses accounts which are within our composite strategies and our funds that we manage. Accounts not included are constrained accounts, some of which are invested in third party funds and many are heavily Capital Gains Tax constrained. These constraints reduce our ability to influence emissions within these portfolios in the shorter term. We aim to transition these accounts into our covered composite over time, allowing for a higher proportion of our AUM to gradually be covered. We aim to cover 100% of AUM by 2050.
Policy on coal and other fossil fuel investments:
While we have no immediate plans to develop such a policy, our focus on companies that can persistently grow, generate free cash flow and demonstrate strong returns on investment, naturally precludes us from investing in carbon-intensive sectors such as coal, oil or gas companies, heavy industrials or mining companies. Many of these companies are highly dependent on a commodity price and / or are more cyclical and therefore do not comply with our investment philosophy.