Stafford Capital Partners (Stafford) has published its inaugural Responsible Investment Report, detailing how it incorporates ESG considerations into its investments and how it engages with external fund managers on topics such as climate change and ESG reporting.
An important part of this engagement is an annual manager ESG survey which found that about 50 per cent of managers in Stafford’s portfolio communicate in some way how their portfolio companies or assets contribute or are linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Some 82 per cent of timberland managers report ESG-related data to investors, while 95 per cent of infrastructure managers who responded to our survey publicly support the recommendations by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and 75 per cent of the managers have identified metrics for physical climate risk.
All farmland managers in Stafford Capiutal’s portfolio have an ESG policy in place, incorporate ESG considerations in their investment decisions and report ESG data to their investors.
The number of private equity managers that provide some ESG-related reporting is increasing each year. In 2020, 59 per cent of PE managers in Stafford Capital’s ESG engagement program reported ESG-related data; 24 per cent reported environmental or social impact at fund level, and 40 per cent reported on their economic impact such as employment, new jobs created etc.
Stafford’s work in sustainability has been woven into its activities since it was founded back in 2000. It has been certified as a Carbon Neutral company since 2018 and is making efforts to bring greater diversity into its team and decision-making.
