HEXAVEST, BÂTIRENTE AND THE RRSE JOIN THE BBFAW GLOBAL INVESTOR COLABORATION AND INVESTOR STATEMENT ON FARM ANIMAL WELFARE
Hexavest, Bâtirente and the RRSE (Le Regroupement pour la responsabilité sociale des entreprises) have become the latest investors to join the BBFAW Global Investor Collaboration and Investor Statement on Farm Animal Welfare.
Investors in the collaboration engage with companies - including food producers, retailers and wholesalers, and restaurants and bars - covered by the Benchmark, commending leading and improving companies on their performance, and encouraging poorer performers to strengthen their approach, management systems and processes, and performance reporting on farm animal welfare.
The collaboration is now supported by 29 institutional investors representing £2.3 trillion in assets under management. The participants are:
Aberdeen Standard Investments, ACTIAM, Australian Ethical Investments, Aviva Investors, Bâtirente, BMO Asset Management, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Brunel Pension Partnership, Candriam, Castlefield Investment Partners, the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church, Coller Capital, EdenTree Investment Management, Epworth Investment Management, Ethical Partners Funds Management, Hexavest, Karner Blue Capital, KBI Global Investors, NEI Investments, Rathbone Greenbank Investments, Robeco, RRSE (Le Regroupement pour la responsabilité sociale des entreprises), Schroders, Simplicity, Sonen Capital, The Sustainability Group of Loring, Wolcott & Coolidge Trust, Trillium Asset Management, Triodos Investment Management and Walden Asset Management.
Jo-Annie Pinto, Vice President Communications and Responsible Investing, Hexavest commented: "The animal welfare issue is becoming more and more important in the public space and especially among consumers. Poor management of this issue represents risks for companies and their investors. We are very pleased to support this unique tool aiming to assess the quality of corporate policies, practices and disclosure in this regard."
Daniel Simard, CEO, Bâtirente commented: "The consideration of animal welfare is integral to the responsible management of food supply chains. And yet, there remains significant progress to be made. As a responsible investor, we are very pleased to join this important initiative aiming to improve business practices and disclosure on this issue."
Pierre Viau, CEO, RRSE commented: “The RRSE is pleased to join the growing number of investors supporting the BBFAW with the goal of improving farm animal welfare standards. A sustainable food chain requires the development and dissemination of best practices in this area."
Æquo Shareholder Engagement Services leads dialogues with companies on this issue and others on behalf of these three investors.
Dr Rory Sullivan, Expert Advisor to BBFAW commented: “Investors have a key role to play in improving standards of farm animal welfare across the global food industry. Hexavest, Bâtirente and RRSE joining the BBFAW Collaboration and signing the Investor Statement is further evidence of the increasing importance of farm animal welfare to investors in North America and is a clear signal about their expectations of food companies.”
We are delighted to announce we are holding an in-person launch event for the release of the 2023 Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW).
8th April 2024NN Group, a Dutch financial services company, with a strong presence in several European countries and Japan, has become a member of the BBFAW Global Investor Collaboration on Farm Animal Welfare. As a signatory to the Collaboration, NN Group will participate in an annual engagement to improve animal welfare management practices amongst BBFAW’s 150 global companies.
26th February 2024In March and April 2023, the BBFAW conducted a pilot assessment of 150 companies against the new 2022 benchmark criteria. Instead of the usual public BBFAW report, this briefing paper summarises methodological findings from the BBFAW 2022 pilot benchmark and includes case study examples of company reporting. The briefing also confirms the assessment approach for the BBFAW 2023 assessments, which are scheduled to take place in October to December 2023.
31st July 2023