Monday 31st January 2022
Australian-first net-zero global equities fund launched
Well-known for its market leading, retiree-focused, franking-credit-driven Australian equity income funds, asset manager Plato Investment Management has gone green. Powered by the same detailed quantitative analysis that has driven tits portfolios since inception, the group this week announced the launch of the Plato Global Net Zero Hedge Fund.
The fund will be “managed with a net-zero carbon footprint,” but specifically without the use of costly carbon credits that are popular with other investors. According to the announcement, the strategy will draw on the carbon assessments of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TFCD) and be run as an “active extension option.”
As the name suggests, the fund will be able to both take long and short positions in listed global equities, targeting “high carbon-emitting listed companies” with the latter and backing those with “better-than-average footprints.” It marks another major step towards the full embrace of ESG and more environmentally aware investing within Australia, which has long been seen as a laggard by international standards.
Dr Don Hamson, Plato managing director, flagged that the option is aimed at being a “net zero now” option for its many investors seeking action, and most importantly, picking on one of the “most important thematics” of the next 30 years.
The fund will be managed by Dr David Allen and Charles Lowe, who will leverage Plato’s proprietary systems and around 100 ESG red flags to drive portfolio construction. These will be complemented by a further 60 environment inputs and data sources.
Putting the impact into context, Dr Allen highlights that the average SMSF investor holding ASX-listed shares “requires 3,135 trees to get to net zero,” whereas this option offers that position immediately. Not unsurprisingly, it is a global rather than domestic equity strategy.
Drew is editor of The Inside Network's publications and a principal adviser at Wattle Partners.
