Robeco has been selected by the National Trust to run a £75m mandate in line with the latter’s objective to mitigate climate change and protect the natural environment.
Advised by global investment firm Cambridge Associates, National Trust also selected Robeco to support its ambition to achieve carbon net zero by 2030.
The £75m in assets will seed Robeco’s Climate Global Credits Fund, which launched last December. It invests in a global portfolio of diversified corporate bonds with explicit climate targets that contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement – the group said it is the first global fixed income strategy to be fully compliant with the EU benchmark for Paris-aligned investments.
It will have a 50% lower carbon footprint than the broader corporate bond market, and aims to decarbonise by 7% per year while outperforming its newly created Paris-aligned benchmark, the Solactive Paris Aligned Global Corporate Index, which was developed jointly with Robeco.
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Katie Weber, head of UK institutional at Robeco said: “We are honoured to have been awarded this mandate by the National Trust, a partner that, like us, attaches great importance to safeguarding the environment. Robeco’s Climate Global Credits strategy provides investors with the opportunity to be at the forefront of the transition to a low-carbon economy, and for the National Trust, this investment will help it achieve its own goals to tackle the causes of climate change.”
Peter Vermeulen, the National Trust’s chief financial officer, said: “As Europe’s largest conservation charity, we have the responsibility to combat climate change, which poses the biggest threat to the places, nature and collections we care for. Given Robeco’s leading position in sustainable investing and long history and expertise in fixed income, we are delighted to provide seed capital to this innovative solution and we see Robeco as an ideal partner to help us achieve our commitment to becoming carbon net zero by 2030. We were also impressed with Robeco’s climate change engagement programme, targeting investee companies which fall behind in the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
