It starts small. It starts small — sowing and cultivating the values that are indispensable for living in respect of planet Earth. In what we call sustainable development, these values become apparent when they can be translated into economic growth that is reconcilable with ESG factors — environmental, social and governance. In an ever faster-moving world, making the right choice is a huge responsibility. Amundi, Europe's leading asset manager and one of the top ten operators worldwide, offers a compass: its ESG Improvers solutions, designed to guide investors through the increasingly crowded and complex landscape of responsible investments.

What are ESG Improvers companies

ESG improvers are companies that already have solid foundations today but need to be guided and supported in order to become protagonists of growth that is compatible with respect for the planet and for people. The value for investors lies precisely in this margin for improvement, but nurturing a responsible trend requires trust and longer time horizons.

Kasper Elmgreen @KasperElmgreen

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The "Improvers" idea💡has become a product range of "Amundi ESG Improvers" 🌱.

ESG Improvers are tomorrow’s ESG Winners. They offer improved risk adjusted return and ESG impact.

⁦@Amundi_ENG⁩ amundi.com/globaldistribu…

♥ 3 2 lug 2021 · Apri su X →

To unlock this potential, Amundi takes a holistic approach. The process involves first identifying the most relevant ESG drivers for each individual company; a CO2 footprint, for example, carries a certain weight for a telecommunications operator and a different (far greater) one for an energy company. It is also necessary to understand the financial impact of these drivers and to anticipate their future evolution, looking at what Amundi defines as ESG momentum — which represents a further improvement in potential risk-adjusted returns.

The Covid-19 effect on responsible investments

The roadmap drawn up by the asset management company responds to changes in the financial market, which last year saw a significant outflow from non-responsible equity funds. "The current Covid-19 crisis and the resulting market turbulence have confirmed a pre-existing trend in equity investing: the growing relevance of integrating ESG criteria and sustainability into investment decisions," explain Kasper Elmgreen, Head of Equities, and Piergaetano Iaccarino, Head of Equities Solutions at Amundi, in the document Blue paper – Nuove frontiere Esg.

"We believe that Europe will play a crucial role in the ESG investment trend, as it is home to most of the global ESG leaders and boasts the most advanced ESG framework globally, both due to pressure from regulatory requirements and through the promotion of these themes by the shareholder community," Elmgreen and Iaccarino stress. However, they add, "there is still enormous dispersion in ESG scores across sectors and countries, which offers improvement opportunities for active managers seeking companies best placed to benefit from this trend."

A responsible recovery after the pandemic

The path to recovery from the pandemic calls for greater attention from companies to the human component and to the governance pillar. Focus on employee health will play an increasingly significant role in shaping ESG profiles. The choice to generate energy from renewable sources will be rewarded in the long term on financial markets. All of this testifies to the fact that individual values underpinning sustainable growth are decisive in building a more responsible future for everyone.