Investing for a more sustainable future
Investing for a more sustainable future
Our Socially Responsible Personal Strategy is a way for you to support and invest in companies more proactively managing environmental, social and corporate governance related issues, also known as ESG. Ready to think about investing in a different way? It’s easy to get started.
Why have a socially responsible investment portfolio?
- It's a way to more closely align your investments with your personal values.
- There is the potential for additional risk management.
What are ESG rankings?
What are ESG rankings?
E, S and G represent the three main pillars used to evaluate the “social responsibility” of companies
Environmental
Environmental
Climate change
Renewable energy
Sustainability
Social
Social
Diversity
Labor relations
Conflict minerals
Governance
Governance
Management structures
Board independence
Executive compensation
There is no global standard for evaluating ESG metrics, but some third-party firms have established ranking methodologies. Empower chooses to partner with Sustainalytics, a global leader in ESG research and ratings. To learn more about Sustainalytics’ approach, read our Socially Responsible Investment methodology.
Our Socially Responsible Personal Strategy
Our Socially Responsible Personal Strategy
We use a combination of exclusive and inclusive filters, primarily in the equity portion of the portfolio, which allow us to avoid controversial categories and simultaneously seek out companies more proactively managing ESG issues. And given our use of individual stocks, it can offer greater tax efficiency and opportunities for customization than off-the-shelf mutual funds and ETFs.
Socially Responsible Personal Strategies include the benefits of our Personal Strategy® approach, including optimal asset class mixes that aim to maximize return and reduce risk, our Smart Weighting™ methodology within U.S. equities, tax management and disciplined rebalancing.
The incorporation of ESG metrics primarily applies to the U.S. and International Equity asset classes within the portfolio.1