Unwavering in our pursuit of a Net Zero future

Climate change is a global emergency and a major, systemic risk that could destabilise global economies and investment markets to a significant degree. As a long-term investor in private markets across a range of asset classes, Stafford supports the goals of the Paris Agreement and together with other institutional investors we share the responsibility to manage and protect the assets of end-beneficiaries whose money we manage, including from the effects of climate change.

Climate change presents both investment risks and new opportunities that need to be proactively managed as part of our pre-investment due diligence, the post-investment oversight process, as well as in the reporting to clients and stakeholders. As an investor in global forestry and climate solutions in infrastructure and private markets, Stafford committed early to the Net Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) Initiative in 2021 and will continue providing solutions that not only are able to deliver financial returns but help achieve the transition to a net zero economy.

Our strategic position on climate change is further described in a separate position paper, which can be found here. It is intended to be read in conjunction with Stafford’s Responsible Investment Policy which reinforces our commitment to implementing the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Even though we are a financial services company with a relatively low environmental footprint in our direct activities, we are taking efforts to further improve the corporate practices and activities and have been a carbon neutral company for two years now.

Our disclosures on governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets associated with climate-related risks and opportunities continue to follow the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations[1] and cover both our business operations and our investments.

[1] The TCFD recommendations have been fully incorporated in the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Standards and are now part of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S2 Climate-Related Disclosures.