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Investing for the future

Pictet's sustainable philosophyMany definitions of "sustainable development" exist, but the most widely accepted and cited definition appeared in the 1987 UN report released by the World Commission on Environment and Development, "Our Common Future", also known as the Brundtland Report.

In line with Brundtland, Pictet defines sustainability as economic activity that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Our investment approach therefore aims to meet our clients' financial objectives and their concerns about social, environmental and governance issues.

 
Socially Responsible Investing


Fund Videos

The following videos will introduce you to the investment opportunities offered by Pictet's global theme funds.

 

Water

 

Clean Energy

Agriculture

Timber

 

Environmental Megatrends Selection


Investing in sustainability

Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)Pictet began looking at broadly diversified SRI in 1997, and has since developed two forms of sustainable investments. First, we have built a growing reputation in SRI core equity portfolios (best-in-class) for all major markets. Second, we have taken a thematic approach, focusing on environmental themes or sectors that are key to the concept of sustainability (water, clean energy, timber and agriculture).


In December 2005, Pictet and Ethos, Swiss Foundation for Sustainable Development, entered into a close collaboration to promote socially responsible investment for institutional investors. Together Pictet and Ethos are among the leading players in Europe in this field. By combining Pictet's wide-ranging investment skills and expertise with Ethos's knowledge and experience in active corporate governance and ownership, the two companies are able to offer an appealing and original range of funds.

 

Core equities SRI portfolios

The goal of our core equities products is to build portfolios that meet investors’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives while delivering superior risk-adjusted returns relative to conventional benchmarks.

Our investment process approaches sustainability from two angles. Extra-financial sustainability is achieved by restricting the eligible investment universe to the best companies in each sector. Extra-financial analysis remains a necessary although not a sufficient condition for a truly sustainable investment strategy. Consequently, we also analyse companies to assess their financial sustainability. In contrast to a conventional, short-term oriented financial analysis, our financial sustainability analysis is based on fundamental, company-specific factors which we believe have a positive effect on companies’ long-term survival and – overall – contribute to the stability of financial markets, and therefore ensure that the economy as a whole is better able to withstand shocks. 

By combining extra-financial and financial sustainability within one and the same portfolio, we can offer our clients a truly sustainable investment strategy with higher risk-adjusted returns. Our distinct competitive edge in SRI investing has earned us continued recognition in the industry.

 

We recently won the "Sustainable/Ethical Investment" award at the 2011 UK Pension & Investment Provider Awards (PIPA), organised by both Pensions Management and Pensions Week magazines and were contender for the "Sustainable Asset Manager of the Year" at the prestigious 2011 FT Sustainable Banking Award. In 2009, we were named for the third consecutive year "SRI Provider of the Year" at the Global Pensions Awards.



Thematic Environmental Funds

In 2000, we launched the first ever investment fund aimed at improving the way global water resources are managed. The Pictet Water Fund is still the largest fund of its kind worldwide. Since then, we have launched three additional thematic investment funds which provide investors with a concentrated exposure to a selection of key environmental themes (clean energy, timber and agriculture).

 

In order to enhance the impact of our thematic fund range in terms of sustainability, our partner Ethos, the Swiss Foundation for sustainable development, has been mandated to engage with selected companies in the environmental theme fund universe on a variety of issues where Pictet, as a responsible shareholder, would like to see improvements.