Actis Awarded Highest Score For Fifth Consecutive Year In UN PRI Assessment
Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure has been awarded the highest rating for the fifth consecutive year in the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”) independent assessment.
Actis received the highest score of 5*, higher than the median industry average. This is in recognition of our industry leading approach to responsible investing and building sustainability leaders alongside delivering competitive returns.
The PRI scoring methodology appraises the level of sophistication of a signatory’s responsible investment implementation across their overall investment process, including a new focus on outcomes.
Alphabetical grading (A+ to E) in 2020 has been changed to a numerical grading system ranging from 1 to 5 stars in 2021. The highest score is five stars and awarded to those signatories who demonstrate leading practices within the responsible investment industry.
The firm has been a PRI signatory since 2009 and has reported publicly to the PRI since 2010. PRI reporting is the largest global reporting initiative relating to responsible investment. All signatories are required to annually report on their responsible investment activities across a series of modules including organisational overview, strategy and governance.
Torbjorn Caesar, Senior Partner at Actis, commented: “Investing sustainably continues to be central to our investment strategy, culture and ethos. External independent recognition from the PRI further evidences our belief that values drive value and that investing responsibly creates resilient businesses that can respond to changing economic and geopolitical conditions.”
Shami Nissan, Partner and Head of Sustainability at Actis commented: “We are thrilled to be awarded 5* in all categories, representing our continued commitment to being a responsible enabler of the global low carbon economy while producing superior returns for our investors. Reporting to the PRI helps to ensure accountability, promote standardisation and encourage continuous learning and development, now more than ever consistency of application and quality of information is crucial to reach a Net Zero future.”
Actis is a signatory to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, which supports the goal of Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. Actis has established its portfolio carbon footprint for 2021 and will continue to measure the Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for all its investments. It has also measured and offset its direct emissions since 2019.
Actis developed a Transition Tool, which identifies Net Zero aligned “Green” asset investment opportunities as well as “Smart Olive” assets that have a clear path to decarbonisation and which will be essential for securing a just energy transition.
In 2018, Actis launched the Actis Impact Score™ (AIS), a proprietary framework which supports Actis in the measurement and monitoring of intended and actual impact performance. The AIS is calculated from investment to exit across the entire portfolio. Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Impact Management Project’s dimensions of impact, the open-source methodology offers investors the tools to target and measure their impact through verified metrics.