Sustainable Investing
Sustainable Investing
Sustainable Investing is our broad investment approach that seeks to deliver competitive risk adjusted market return by incorporating financially material ESG assessments and stewardship into our investment process. It complements traditional financial analysis and portfolio construction techniques. Financially material ESG considerations are an important part of MIM’s investment due diligence, which seeks to identify issues that may impact the reputation of a borrower, as well as its financial condition, credit rating and transaction pricing. When assessing the relevant risks associated with any investment opportunity, MIM conducts bottom-up fundamental research and focuses on multiple factors.
MIM believes that adhering to sound responsible business practices can minimize financial risks such as controversy-triggered loss of customers, fines, penalties and environmental clean-up costs. Focused on engagement and managing public fixed income, private capital and real estate assets, MIM aims to deliver strong, risk-adjusted returns by building tailored portfolio solutions to meet clients’ long-term investment objectives.
MIM maintains brochures, policies and disclosures that guide and communicate sustainability efforts within its investment processes. MIM updates policies when necessary to reflect best practices and prevailing market conditions.
MIM’s policies and brochures include:
MIM’s policies and brochures include:
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MIM's Stewardship and Sustainability Strategies include:
MIM Engagement
Engagement with company leadership is central to MIM’s approach to managing pecuniary investment risk. Ongoing dialogue also helps to raise awareness of responsible business practices. Engagement provides MIM’s investment analysts with an opportunity to better understand material, relevant risk factors, be clear about our expectations and improve data transparency.
MIM’s engagement conversations are guided by and recorded in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards’ Sustainability Alliance’s Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) sector-specific materiality matrix, which identifies relevant industry-specific ESG risks and opportunities for discussion. Further details supporting our engagement practices can be found within MIM’s Stewardship Policy.
MIM’s public and private fixed income teams have developed proprietary engagement databases designed to be fully integrated into each of their respective research processes. MIM engages on behalf of MetLife and third-party clients—see chart for a range of topics MIM covered in 2023. Case studies, offering examples and outcomes from our engagement activity, are provided within MIM’s Public Fixed Income and Private Capital Sustainable Investing brochures.
MIM Fixed Income 2023 Engagement Activity1
Total Combaied Unique Issuer Engaagements: 361
Total Combaied Engagement Topics: 880
In addition to direct engagement, MIM’s investment analysts leverage collective engagement initiatives as an opportunity to partner with peers and other like-minded institutional investors to encourage transparency and increase access to more and improved information from which investment decisions can be made.
In 2023, MIM participated in several collective engagement initiatives that aimed to encourage sustainability data and disclosure transparency and standardization including:
- Transition Pathways Initiative “Assessing Sovereign Climate-related Opportunities and Risks” (ASCOR): MIM’s public fixed income team participated in the public consultation period of the ASCOR framework launch. The consultation was the culmination of 18 months of work by an international coalition of investors and investor networks. The result of that effort was the first publicly available, independent and open-source investor framework and database to assess the climate action and alignment of sovereigns. The ASCOR tool is now available, aiming to help investors assess sovereign exposure to climate risk and to encourage greater transparency between issuers, financial institutions and relevant stakeholders.
- CDP Non-Disclosure Campaign: MIM’s public and private fixed income teams participated in CDP’s annual Non-Disclosure Campaign, which is a collaboration with capital market signatories to engage with companies that have not yet disclosed through CDP’s annual climate change, forests and/or water security questionnaires. The intent of these efforts is to boost transparency and increase corporate disclosures. The companies with whom MIM engaged successfully completed their inaugural CDP questionnaires.
- PRI Advance: AIM’s sustainability research analysts are part of an ongoing PRI collaborative stewardship initiative referred to as PRI Advance. PRI Advance aims to advance human rights and positive outcomes for people through investor stewardship. AIM’s participation in PRI Advance has been primarily in support of our dedicated sustainability-focused strategies, specifically those to which their respective investment objectives are aligned with the SDGs.
Investing in Biodiversity and Nature
MetLife and MIM are proud to source investments that advance sustainability and contribute to protecting biodiversity and generating nature-positive outcomes. This includes managing sustainable forestry, installing drip irrigation for crops and supporting on-site pollinator projects that help protect and promote bee and other pollinator populations critical to supporting our food system and fiber crops. MIM’s real estate investment portfolio under management includes nine properties with beehives.
Please see For the Environment to learn more about beehives at MetLife’s corporate offices and MIM’s green building practices and certifications.
