Engaging for change

The investor voice is a powerful means to influence and direct the ways in which companies are run. Taking an active approach to our share ownership of companies is part of the Greenbank service and complements our investment analysis. It is a vital expression of our role as stewards of our clients’ assets to advocate for lasting change with the companies in which we invest.

Our approach

Engagement forms a key part of Greenbank’s approach to responsible investment in the following ways:

— as a means of addressing direct concerns about a specific company issue or area of performance
— as a means of encouraging best practice, giving internal momentum for positive change within companies
— as a means of furthering a 'best of sector' investment strategy (for example, in the extractives and pharmaceuticals sectors) by      encouraging constituent companies towards more positive behaviour
—  in engaging with a company, Greenbank will favour the methods shown below.

Our core principles

Our engagement is guided by the following principles:

— Greenbank will seek open and constructive dialogue in a spirit of longer-term partnership
— engagement will be made on the basis of corroborated evidence or research which is of a rigorous and independent nature.

Measurement and reporting

Any new insights from our engagement activities are fed directly back into the investment process. We also provide our clients with a detailed summary of the engagement activity that is relevant for their portfolio on a regular basis and we are always seeking opportunities to represent their views and create positive change on their behalf.

Net Zero

Greenbank recognises the role that we can, and should, play in helping to accelerate the transition towards net zero. As such we have developed an engagement strategy and escalation framework specifically targeted at our net zero ambitions for investment holdings, which is set out in this downloadable pdf. For further detail of how we assess company alignment with a net zero pathway see our framework here.

The power of engagement

You can read more about our approach to engagement here and find out about our recent work on engagement in our annual Engagement review.