Ethics and environmentalism win recognition
The BT Ethical Share Fund and Insurance Australia Group (IAG) took top honours in their categories at the Australian Sustainability Awards.
BT took out the Ethical Fund of the Year Award, while IAG won the award for Sustainable Company of the Year.
The award for ethical investment funds was judged according to a combination of performance and the screening process adopted for companies engaging in non-complying activities such as gaming, alcohol, tobacco or anything deemed to harm the environment or indeed the wider public interest.
According to BT portfolio manager Troy Angus, returns for the BT Ethical Share Fund over the year were around 29 per cent, with inflows of around $100 million.
He said the fund effectively screens out around 10 per cent of Australian equities, with the remaining 90 per cent subject to the same criteria applied to other BT funds.
There is a “reasonable variation between BT funds and the Ethical Share Fund,” he said, identifying Coles Myer as one prominent company excluded from the ethical portfolio on the grounds of its interests in gaming.
Other ethical funds nominated in this category were those offered by AMP, IOOF, Perpetual and Suncorp-Metway.
IAG won the Sustainable Company of the Year Award for its strong advocacy against global warming, particularly its commitment to achieve carbon neutral status within five years.
Company awards were judged by an expert panel that included Erik Mather, BT’s head of governance advisory services.
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