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The biggest themes in impact investing revealed in annual report

Announcement posted by Writers Who 27 Jul 2021

Pengana Capital Group’s WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund has released its seventh annual impact report highlighting the sustainability themes influencing investors who seek positive impact as well as profit via the Fund. 

According to Adam Myers, impact investing specialist at Pengana Capital Group, there are significant trends that have emerged as a result of environmental disasters like bushfires and droughts, and unsurprisingly, COVID-19. 

“I see the trend towards impact investing intensifying. It is becoming an inclusive movement rather than an exclusive club,” Mr Myers said.  

"This is aided by organisations such as our investment partners at WHEB Asset management, who believe that by making positive investing routine, they can help deliver real and significant sustainable change in economic activities around the globe." 

“New regulatory and market-led standards are being developed constantly, as impact investing continues on its path to becoming mainstream.” 

Key impact themes identified in this year’s report are:
- sustainable transport
- safety 
- clean energy
- responsible consumption 
- clean water and sanitation
- good health and wellbeing 
- quality education. 

“Transport alone is responsible for around 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Aptiv PLC, a key supplier to the automotive industry, is an impactful business with 80 percent of its revenue coming from products and services with environmental and safety benefits,“ Mr Myers said. 

“Replacing the use of fossil fuels for energy is one of the most urgent priorities in avoiding global temperature rising. For most environmentally aware investors, renewable energy is a no-brainer. In the clean energy space TPI Composites is just one example we can point to . It has produced over 10,000 blades to date and accounted for 13 percent of the onshore wind blade market in 2020. The company is well-placed to benefit from the long-term growth in wind energy.” 

Viewing sustainability through a holistic lens, we quickly realise that we need to consider health, safety, wellbeing and human advancement in addition to environmental imperatives. The OVID-19 pandemic has been a stark reminder of the potential for social and economic devastation and how central human-wellbeing is to sustainability. In addition to a holding in the highly impactful Australian business CSL, we invest in companies which develop and produce affordable pharmaceutical products, and other companies which focus on improving vision, hearing, women’s health, aged care, and education.  

Responsible consumption is a theme which Horiba Limited contributes to as a manufacturer of analytical and measuring equipment for environmental, health and safety fields.   

Ecolab is an example of a company making waves in the clean water space. They sell cleaning solutions that reduce and even eliminate the use of water in restaurants, hotels, hospitals and food and beverage sectors.  

Mr Myers invites investors with an interest in the impact space to download the report from the fund’s impact microsite which evaluates companies in terms of their returns and positive social or environmental contribution.