ESG Engagement

ESG Engagement supports active owners to leverage their influence on companies through dialog on environmental, social, and governance issues.

inrate esg engagement  solutions
inrate esg engagement

Inrate’s Proactive ESG Engagement for Impactful Results

ESG Engagement is a crucial and active part of sustainable finance. Our engagement approach seeks to highlight a specific issue and bring about change through dialogue with companies’ key decision-makers. Our goal is for companies to improve their ESG impact and thereby create long-term value.   

Inrate engages on environmental, social, and governance issues with listed companies in Switzerland on behalf of its engagement pool members, the “Responsible Shareholder Group” (RSG). To address important ESG issues relating to practices and disclosure, we conduct regular meetings with companies and track their success. Accountability and transparency are guaranteed through a yearly ESG Engagement Report and an online tool where actions and results are being monitored.  

We also support clients who have specific engagement requests. For example, take over the engagement of impact-driven funds where engagement is part of the fund strategy or incident-driven engagements resulting from news, controversial business practices.

ESG Engagement USPs

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Experience

Comprehensive engagement services since 2006, with over 600 dialogues since 2015.

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Reporting

A client-friendly online portal with all relevant information at hand and individual reporting capabilities. 

Integrity

Independence and no conflicts of interest. Inrate neither advises companies nor manages assets. Data collection and analysis is carried out exclusively “in-house” for the RSG-pool.

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Coverage

Coverage of all companies in the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) and on request.

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Expertise

Highly skilled analyst team on the topics of ESG and impact investing through broad proprietary data collection and analysis and strong academic background

Goal-Oriented Processes

Clear goals and milestones of engagement dialogues are set and reported on transparently.

 

ESG Engagement Approach and Philosophy

  • Approach: 

At Inrate, our ESG engagement approach focuses on identifying and highlighting material issues crucial for enhancing a company’s impact. We engage in productive dialogues with key decision-makers to support long-term value creation.

esg engagement approach

Inrate’s ESG Engagement Process

inrate esg engagement process
Definition:

Inrate’s ESG Engagement Process is anchored around the Responsible Shareholder Group (RSG), an exclusive national engagement pool. We help companies understand the financial implications of their impact, mitigate risks, and seize opportunities through comprehensive topic selection. Decisions on topics are based on Inrate’s proposals or RSG member suggestions, determined by majority votes at the RSG Annual General Meeting, with the principle of “double materiality” guiding our efforts

Analysis:

The analysis stage of Inrate’s ESG Engagement Process is critical in driving meaningful and impactful change. It involves a thorough evaluation of several key elements, like the company selection, team composition or goal definition to ensure the success of our engagement dialogues. Companies are selected based on room for improvement and relevancy. Team diversity, seniority, experience and various thematic backgrounds are important criteria to deliver the highest quality engagement with the necessary expertise. For each topic, specific targets and milestones are set, assessed through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) by our analysts during full engagements and reported on to pool members.

Engagement:

Inrate conducts ESG engagements within the RSG in three different types: Full and light engagement for our focus companies as well as light engagement (zRatings) for the SPI universe—these tailored approaches efficiently target engagement objectives.

Monitoring:

We ensure accountability and transparency through a yearly ESG Engagement Report and an online tool tracking actions and results.

Topic Selection – ESG Engagement Season 2023

Customer Testimonials

We appreciate the broad-based knowledge and direct access to the specialists at Inrate. In addition, it was important for us to have a partner that was able to develop a comprehensive engagement approach reflecting the values shared by PUBLICA and other Swiss institutional investors.
PUBLICA