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Poland: New ESG index helps socially responsible investors

Source: CFA Institute Blog, 2017
Do you want to align your investments with your values?
A new ESG Index in Poland will help investors identify companies committed to improving corporate governance and environmental impact.
Written by Stacy Marcus, September 2019
Do you want your investments to align with your values?
The new Environment, Social and Governance Index launched in September will make it easier for investors to identify companies committed to improving their corporate governance, environmental impact and social responsibility practices.
The WIG-ESG Index will be comprised of companies from the WIG20 and WIG40 blue chip indices working to improve their ESG score.
The Index will also serve as the benchmark for a new fund managed by NN Investment Partners.
The NN Indeks Odpowiedzialny Fund will be created by transformation of the NN SFIO Akcji 2 fund, ranked 11 out of 55 on 5 years return, with assets of ~Zł1.6bn.
NN Investment Partners integrates ESG criteria in its investment process to varying degrees. Funds may:
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Invest only in companies (mostly foreign) pursuing UN sustainable development goals;
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Invest only in companies with the highest ESG scoring (Polish & foreign); or
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Exclude companies that do not improve their ESG score.
The NN Indeks Odpowiedzialny portfolio will employ criteria #3.
It is hoped the launch of the ESG Index will put pressure on companies to reduce environmental footprint and implement better corporate governance policies in order to be included.
According to GPW board member Izabela Olszewska: “The first edition of WIG-ESG Index, primarily aims at drawing the attention of companies and potential investors to ESG criteria in the investment decision process. We believe that in the coming years, environmental, social and governance scoring will have greater impact on both the weighting of each company and the index's portfolio."
Learn more about Socially Responsible Investing and How to Invest with ESG Funds here.
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