To achieve sustainability we need fair play, openness and collaboration
In Norway, we have trolls. The only way to get rid of them is to bring them out into the light. In the light, they explode and disappear into thin air. The first step in solving most problems is the same; you have to bring them out into the light, to get people engaged, and in turn to create focus, solutions, prioritizations and action.
This blog is about sustainable investments and good governance. The article builds on a speech I recently made at an anti-doping in sports seminar.
Storebrand is a leading player in the Nordic market for long-term savings and insurance. We manage more than 750 billion NOK, or close to USD 100 bn, for two million Norwegians and Swedes. This makes us Norway's largest private pension insurer and Norway's second largest asset manager after the Norwegian Petroleum Fund. Furthermore, we have a full service digital bank and a general insurance company.
The origins of today’s Storebrand dates back 252 years, to 1767, two years before the patent on the steam engine and nine years before the declaration of independence in the United States. At the time, we were a fire insurance company. Since then we have been a first in insuring trade and goods, in life insurance, in occupational pensions and many other things. In 1995, we really started to define our strategy for sustainable investments. Long before most other investors, and long before this became the norm for pension investments.
All of our investments are screened for sustainability. We do this by:
- Excluding companies that do not comply with the Storebrand Standard;
- Investing more in solution companies, or companies with a business model benefiting from the shift to a green and sustainable economy; and
- Influencing through dialog and voting to improve the sustainability agenda of the companies we invest in.
Storebrand aims to constantly develop our methodology and remain a leader in the industry when it comes to fighting environmentally dirty, unethical and unsustainable business practices through our partnerships and long-term investments.
Can Storebrand save the world alone? Obviously not. However, we want to be a part of the rescue team. Because, today, more than half of all the money invested in the world financial markets are pension money. By making sure these investments work towards, not only financial gains, but also towards a green, sustainable and better world, we can contribute to the green shift, to better governance, and social improvements around the world. Furthermore, by making alliances with other institutional investors and partners across industries, our voice grows louder and our impact grows stronger. This in turn, makes us become part of the solution, not the problem. This is what we call «good money» - good returns, and a better world.
Collaborating with likeminded companies, not only in our industry, but also across different sectors makes the impact broader and stronger.
There is a clear parallel between the work for clean and ethical sports, and clean and ethical business. The finance industry is infamous for its role in creating the financial crisis in 2008, in fooling their clients, for their bonuses, and more. Parts of business are known to place profits over ethics and not to account for the externalities that are not explicitly priced. The fact of course, is that the business and the financial industry, like the sports world, consist of mostly very dedicated and hardworking people, but that the few odd members and illegitimate cases cast a dark shadow on the industry as a whole.
In addition to the clear-cut cases of doping in the sports industry and pollution and corruption in business, there are also grey areas in between. Is blood doping bad but preparation in high altitudes okay? And what about high altitude housing? Are individual differences in hormone levels okay, but hormone treatments not? There are many similar dilemmas in business. This is where transparency and open dialogue come in. We support transparency and open dialogue around dilemmas to ensure equal rules for everyone, for an even playing field, in sports and in business. "Fair Play!"
In business, A4S is a major contributor to the call for transparency and fair play. By improved reporting on sustainability issues and making sure sustainability is accounted for in the hard financial reporting, A4S helps to expose risks and accelerate solutions. By engaging the CFOs of leading organizations, A4S ensures that sustainability is put firmly on the business agenda, and creates a framework for action and accountability.
Through our investments on behalf of Norwegian and Swedish savers, Storebrand stands up for the environment, for rights of workers globally, for indigenous people around the world, and for basic human rights. Our sustainability agenda has been a key component in attracting new employees for the last 25 years. This becomes a self-supporting virtuous circle: We work with sustainability, this attracts employees that want to work with sustainable solutions, we become better at it, and so it goes. Through our cooperation across business and sports, together we create better solutions and increase our reach and impact, for a better world for athletes, business and the world.
Transparency, open discussions around dilemmas, and collaboration within and across industries are three key components in the fight for a sustainable future. Let's all go out and make the world a better place, together!
