Our Position on Climate Change
As a long-term investor in private markets across a range of asset classes, Stafford has a shared responsibility with other institutional investors to manage and protect the assets of end-beneficiaries whose retirement savings we manage, including from the effects of climate change. We support the goals of the Paris Agreement and are concerned that we are currently falling well short of the agreed goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
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 the organisation’s 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.
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 low carbon solutions in infrastructure and private markets, Stafford has committed to the Net Zero Asset Managers (“NZAM”) Initiative and will continue providing solutions that not only are able to deliver financial returns but help achieve the transition to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions economy. Our first NZAM progress report and our disclosures on climate governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics & targets, which follow the TCFD recommendations, can be found below.
Reports
Stafford Capital Partners’ Strategic Position on Climate Change
TCFD Report 2022
Stafford Capital Partners’ NZAM progress report via CDP 2022