ORIX Europe

Our Approach to Our Sustainability Themes

Robeco

• Our investment strategies will integrate ESG factors: (1) strategies that employ ESG information in investment decisions; (2) strategies that focus on sustainability; and (3) impact investment strategies. In particular, we will focus on expanding the balance of assets under management related to (3) impact investment strategies.
• We will create an engagement policy and appoint experts to strengthen engagement with governments and government-owned enterprises.
• In line with our Net Zero Roadmap, we will reduce carbon emissions from our investment and business activities by 7% each year with the goal of achieving net zero by 2050.
• In line with our Biodiversity Roadmap, we will implement initiatives for TNFD^* testing and the creation of biodiversity-related asset management industry standards.

• Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures: An initiative launched in June 2021, TNFD encourages organizations to assess and report risks and opportunities related to the natural environment and biodiversity in their own economic activities.

Boston Partners Global Investors
Boston Partners incorporates sustainability considerations into its investment scoring models, with an emphasis on climate change, corporate governance, and supply chain management. For companies with adverse sustainability metrics, Boston Partners’ Sustainability and Engagement Team provides an in-depth review of the company. This review forms the basis of engagement, which includes both dialogue with the company and use of proxy decisions.

Harbor Capital Advisors
Harbor Capital is committed to providing additional transparency of ESG metrics for its equity mutual funds to investors, which it believes will afford investors an additional layer of due diligence when making investment decisions.

Transtrend
Transtrend aims to contribute to well-functioning, well-organized and reliable markets. Transtrend established an ESG Committee in 2021 to coordinate and enhance its progress on beliefs, policies, and initiatives in the areas of responsible investing and corporate responsibility.

Gravis Capital Management
Gravis invests in long-term projects that offer a human dimension, including renewable, social, and economic infrastructure. Its approach to responsible investment includes exclusions, ESG due diligence, monitoring and engagement, and reporting, overseen by its Responsible Investment Committee. Gravis is working to reduce its carbon footprint, and as part of this initiative, it has offset carbon emissions by contributing to a portfolio which is run by a provider whose aim is to reduce one billion tons of CO₂ by 2030. In addition, Gravis makes efforts to quantify ESG indicators used in its investment portfolios.

Business Activities and Sustainability Themes Matrix

Sustainable investing (Robeco)

• #Investments and lending that take ESG into account

The following initiatives are a few of the ways in which Robeco (100% subsidiary of ORIX) commits to ESG in its business.

1. Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Signatory
Robeco became a signatory to the PRI in 2006. In 2020, Robeco achieved A+ scores for all PRI modules as it previously did in 2018. Robeco was also named in the PRI Leaders' Group based on our climate-related approach and reporting standards.
Please see the following report for PRI's latest reporting framework for 2020.
PRI reporting framework 2020

2. ESG integration
As of December 31, 2022, total assets under management (AUM) at Robeco was 171.1 billion EUR, of which total AUM integrating ESG elements was 166.5 billion EUR (97% of total AUM).
This can be further broken down into three categories:

Please see the following report for details.
Sustainability Report 2022 [5.17MB]

3. Engagement
Robeco actively uses its ownership rights to engage with companies because it believes engagement leads to improvements in sustainable corporate behavior, creating a positive impact not only on its investment but also on society at large.
Robeco has two engagement strategies:
1) Value engagement, the objective of which is to create value for investors and society by improving sustainability conduct and corporate governance;
2) Enhanced engagement, the objective of which is to address companies that severely and structurally breach minimum behavioral norms in areas such as human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.
Under both strategies, Robeco first uses constructive dialogue and its right to vote to encourage change, but will use adverse proxy voting, shareholder resolutions, director nominations or legal actions as escalation measures if the company does not respond to dialogue. As a last resort, Robeco or its clients can decide to exclude a company from its investment universe.

4. Engagement and proxy voting overview including climate-related issues
With over 20 years of experience in engagement and voting, Robeco's integrated approach to active ownership is widely recognized as representing best practice in the asset management industry. We support shareholder proposals on ESG themes if they support long-term, sustainable shareholder value creation.
Climate change took center stage as the most significant systemic ESG risk, and Robeco redoubled its efforts to meet the challenge. Through our commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions across all our assets under management by 2050, the further development of our Climate Change Policy, and significant engagement successes, we made a clear statement that investors cannot fall behind in the race to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. As part of this commitment, in October 2021, Robeco announced its Net Zero Roadmap, which outlines the steps we aim to take to reach net zero by 2050, including the publication of interim decarbonization targets.
Please see the following reports for details.
Stewardship Policy [2.1MB]
Climate change and Covid-19 lead Stewardship Report
Proxy Voting Season Overview [2.3MB]

5. Shareholder Rights Directive II
Robeco is committed and well positioned to adhere to SRD II—the amended Shareholder Rights Directive by the European Commission (applicable to institutional investors in European Equities)—in addition to relevant stewardship codes that aim to encourage long-term shareholder engagement. We have a long-standing focus on responsible investing and long-term shareholder engagement. We use our ownership rights to constructively engage with investee companies and to serve the long-term interests of our clients.
A dedicated team of engagement specialists maintains an active dialogue with approximately 230 companies a year on themes, which are material from a financial and sustainability perspective, and which we identify in consultation with our investors. This has proven to be a successful means of influencing corporate behavior. Robeco also votes at approximately 7,000 shareholder meetings each year. All of Robeco's activities are in line with the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI), which require asset managers to be active owners and incorporate ESG factors into their ownership policies and practices, in addition to SRD II.
Please see the following report for details.
Shareholder Rights Directive II

Sustainable investing (Boston Partners Global Investors)

• #Investments and lending that take ESG into account

Boston Partners manages over 17.5 billion USD in assets with sustainable and socially screened investments (as of March 31, 2023). Boston Partners also emphasizes engagement in order to improve the sustainability of its investee companies, and publishes a monthly engagement report.
For further details, please refer to Boston Partners’ Engagement and Sustainability page.