Investing in the transition to a sustainable future with an innovative approach - Pictet Asset Management

Positive Change

Investing in the transition to a sustainable future with an innovative approach
The winning companies of the future may still be early in their sustainability journey MARKETING COMMUNICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY

Positive Change is a global, diversified, unconstrained equity strategy. It invests not only in those companies that are already leaders in sustainability but also in those that have the potential and willingness to improve. We believe improving alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) is a key driver of performance.

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We seek to invest in companies where the value of transitioning to a more sustainable future has not yet been fully appreciated. We believe improving alignment with the UN SDGs is a source of alpha, leading to improved returns and the potential for re-rating over the long term.

We actively engage with selected companies to accelerate their alignment with the UN SDGs, where we believe this transition will lead to rising demand for their products and services.

We define Positive Change as the improvement in alignment of a company’s products and services to the UN SDGs.

Evgenia Molotova Senior Investment Manager

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Source: Pictet Asset Management

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What makes this strategy different?

Recognises that sustainability is a whole economy issue

The strategy can invest across all sectors. We believe that sustainability cannot be fully addressed by investing only within positively aligned sectors. We need to continue to invest in old economy sectors such as oil and gas, but responsibly.

Harnesses AI to profile companies more efficiently

Our proprietary SDG Alignment Indicator uses AI to assess alignment of company products and services to the UN SDGs based on Natural Language Processing (NLP). The outputs of the tool inform our active, bottom-up investment process. The end result is a diversified portfolio of 35-50 stocks.

Aims to accelerate the transition through focused engagement

Engaging with a select number of companies ensures that we have the capacity and resources to drive real change.

Transparency is at the core of our approach

We track our progress against stock specific KPIs and disclose this to our investors via our Holdings Update reports.

A long history of responsible investing

Pictet Asset Management launched our first strategies incorporating responsible investment criteria in the 1990s. Around 80 per cent¹ of our AUM now invests in strategies that promote environmental or social characteristics, or have a sustainable investment objective such as providing solutions to climate change or water scarcity.

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We classify our holdings as:

Leaders

Leaders are companies that are at the peak of their sector in terms of alignment of their products and services to the UN SDGs.

Improvers

Improvers are companies that may have lower alignment to the UN SDGs in their sector but which are showing signs of improvement.

Opportunities

Opportunities are companies that may have lower alignment to the UN SDGs in their sector but where we have identified the potential, ability and willingness to improve alignment with our targeted engagement.

We can, and do, engage with Leaders and Improvers; however, we expect engagement with Opportunity companies to be of a higher intensity and potentially with longer time horizons.

Accelerating the transition to Positive Change
Visit our interactive cityscape to find out how the companies we invest in are driving Positive Change Read more

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Our investment team

Evgenia Molotova

Evgenia Molotova

Evgenia Molotova joined Pictet Asset Management in December 2017 and is a Senior Investment Manager in the Specialist Equities team, focused on the Positive Change strategy. Evgenia has more than 15 years of experience, having spent last 10 years performing various roles in the financial sector. She started her career at Sun Chemical Russia where she progressed to the level of Deputy General Manager, she was then transferred to the European headquarters of Sun Chemical in London, where she worked on various restructuring projects.

Yuko Takano

Yuko Takano joined Pictet Asset Management in 2022 and is a Senior Investment Manager in the Specialist Equities team. Prior to taking on her current role, Yuko spent 11 years at Newton Investment Management as a Portfolio Manager on their Sustainable Equities Strategies. Yuko entered the finance industry in 2000 and has previously worked for Morgan Stanley, Joho Capital and Aetos Capital. Yuko holds an Economics degree from Keio University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School.

Peter Rawlence

Peter Rawlence joined Pictet Asset Management in 2015 and is an Investment Manager in the Specialist Equities team, focused on the Positive Change strategy. Previously, he held Investment Management and Research Analyst roles in the Thematic Equities team. Peter started his career at Pictet Asset Management working on the creation of an award-winning thematic orientated thought leadership platform “mega.online”.

Interesting in learning more about Positive Change ?

Webinar

Webinar: Why it’s not only companies with stellar sustainability ratings that matter

The co-lead managers of Positive Change, Evgenia Molotova and Yuko Takano, discussed their strategy’s innovative approach at a recent webinar.

Find out more about our Positive change strategy

Discover our strategy including the factsheet, performance review and manager comments

Positive change

ESG in Practice series: Yuko Takano on investing in the sustainable transition

As we move into ESG 3.0, investors will need to look further to find investment opportunities. An area of interest is companies in a process of sustainable transition, says investment manager Yuko Takano

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ESG in Practice series: Evgenia Molotova on investing with impact

Evgenia Molotova’s experience in industries not usually associated with impact investing was the source of inspiration for Positive Change, an equity strategy with a difference

Positive change

Positive change for a better world

It's not only companies with the stellar sustainability ratings that matter. Those with the scope to improve will not only make a difference to the world, but also stand to generate attractive returns.

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