Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are integrated into most aspects of the Guardians' investment activities. 

We focus on:

• Developing guidelines to integrate ESG considerations across different types of investments
• Ensuring effective engagement with our external investment managers and manager selection advisers as well as the companies we invest in
• Being an active owner of securities in which we invest by exercising our voting rights
• Screening and potential exclusion of company or sovereign securities from the Fund due to the products they make, poor ESG practices and/or sanctions against nation states
• Considering investments which provide measurable positive social or environmental outcomes in addition to the required financial returns
• Maintaining a robust analytical and decision making process in response to investee companies' ESG performance
• Benchmarking our performance against global good practice and our commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.

We consider ESG factors when we identify investment opportunities, assess investment risk, undertake due diligence and make decisions as an asset owner and shareholder. We also work closely with our investment managers and proxy voting agency to exercise our voting rights to promote best-practice corporate governance both in New Zealand and overseas.

The Sustainable Investment team is embedded within the wider investment team and we encourage our investment professionals to complete training on ESG considerations and sustainable finance. In addition, we also regularly rate the sustainable investment strategies of our external managers, and have embedded ESG considerations including climate change into our investment decision-making process.