Impact

Resolution Capital is committed to having a positive environmental and social impact. We integrate sustainability factors into our investing approach, our business operations, and community involvement.

As concentrated investors who think and act like long-term owners, we endeavour to fully integrate sustainability in all its important dimensions into company analysis and valuation. We recognised early the significance of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), by becoming a signatory in 2010.

ESG Incorporation

ESG factors form an important part of our analysis of investee companies.

As active owners governance has long been a primary area of focus for the investment team however, increasingly environmental and social factors are included in our assessment of existing and potential portfolio holdings.

We have developed proprietary frameworks to assess material ESG issues and these are incorporated into stock analysis and any new stock initiation reports.

ESG Incorporation

ESG factors form an important part of our analysis of investee companies.

As active owners governance has long been a primary area of focus for the investment team however, increasingly environmental and social factors are included in our assessment of existing and potential portfolio holdings.

We have developed proprietary frameworks to assess material ESG issues and these are incorporated into stock analysis and any new stock initiation reports.

1. Environmental

We are focused on the environmental performance of the companies we invest in, with a focus on climate transition risk. We look for environmental policies that lead to greater energy, water and waste efficiencies which reduce operating expenses, making assets more profitable and environmentally sustainable and reducing stranded asset risk in the face of both increasing regulatory and tenant requirements. Tenants and consumers are increasingly setting minimum standards for sustainability that include net zero targets and access to renewable energy.

2. Social

Real assets touch many facets of our everyday lives and therefore it’s important to consider how companies interact with all stakeholders. A company’s social footprint reflects management’s ability to engage with both internal and external stakeholders to generate constructive outcomes. A good social record is a signal that a company’s management have implemented proper controls to minimise risk/safety incidents, manage supply chain integrity and adhere to relevant diversity and human rights requirements.

3. Governance

We believe that good governance and good management are imperative to a company’s long-term success. We have observed that companies with aligned and committed management typically outperform companies with inferior alignment over the long term. It is our policy to vote on all proxy resolutions at all investor meetings for investments that we directly hold on behalf of our clients and the Portfolio Managers are responsible for all voting decisions. The voting decisions are driven by the best interests of our clients as investors.

Human Rights and Modern Slavery

We are connected to potential adverse human rights and modern slavery impacts through our operations, the activities of our suppliers and through the investments we make. In our investment activities, we expect the companies we invest in to respect the human rights of its employees and the employees of companies in their supply chains, in line with international conventions, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact.

Please refer to our Responsible Investment Policy and Engagement Policy for further information on our investment and engagement approaches in this area.

Stewardship

Engagement

Company engagement is an important part of Resolution Capital’s investment process. As active owners, engagement provides the investment team the opportunity to share our philosophy and corporate governance values and make a positive contribution to investee companies. Furthermore, it often provides us with a deeper and different perspective of how the company operates. The engagement agenda is reviewed annually and agreed upon by all the Portfolio Managers responsible for the strategy. Please refer to our Engagement Policy for further information on our engagement approach in this area.

Case Study

Urban Edge
Urban Edge

Urban Edge, a US Retail REIT, has improved their ESG strategy and disclosure considerably since we first engaged with management and provided constructive feedback as part of our investment initiation process in 2020. Our feedback focussed on concerns regarding Urban Edge’s unclear ESG strategy and poor disclosure with an emphasis on the environmental segment.  Management was highly receptive to our feedback and showed a clear intention to improve Urban Edge’s ESG performance.

Since the first engagement we have collaborated with management over several targeted ESG discussions. Notably, in 2021 our conversation centred around the absence of a carbon reduction target that aligned with the Paris Agreement. Management demonstrated they were focussed on setting a target while acknowledging the hurdles they faced were a timing impediment. We engaged again in 2022 to understand the status of their carbon reduction target formation, which was still not publicly disclosed. Management outlined in more detail the stage of completion and explained workarounds adopted to ensure accurate data collation. They also communicated they reported to the GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) assessment in 2021 and were waiting for their results to be released.

More broadly, over the course of our discussions, it was clear management had carefully formed a framework to develop, implement and disclose Urban Edge’s ESG strategy. Importantly, they established responsibility and oversight for their ESG strategy, which included designated board and management committees. Among other initiatives they progressed onsite solar installation targets, adopted a systematic approach to collecting Scope 3 tenant emissions, and were increasingly incorporating Green Leasing terms in tenant agreements to enforce provision of energy consumption data.

Urban Edge began reporting to GRESB under the grace period1 in 2021, and in 2022 their results were made public. Its overall score of 67 was below its global peer group average of 75 driven by the environmental segment and partly offset by its strength in the social and governance segments. Overall, we are pleased with the enthusiasm management has  demonstrated, their open and collaborative approach to our engagements and their progress towards setting targets.

1The GRESB assessment allows companies to report into the assessment but not publish its first year of results, as it often takes one or two years to come up to speed with the assessment, this is called the grace period.

Proxy Voting

Resolution Capital acts in the best interest of clients as shareholders. It is the policy of Resolution Capital to vote on all proxy resolutions it has the ability to vote on. The table below shows the extent to which we have exercised our vote in recent times:

Year Meetings Resolutions Voted For Voted Against Abstained No Action
YTD to 30 June 2024 72 919 934 62 0 0
2023 92 1112 1026 62 24 0

Associations

UNPRI Signatory

Resolution Capital has been a signatory to the United Nations initiated Principles for Responsible Investment (www.unpri.org), which promotes the inclusion of ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes since 2010.

We are pleased with our results for 2023 (report published December 2023) which are summarised as follows.

Resolution Capital achieved 5 stars across one assessed module and 4 stars across two assessed modules in 2023:

  • Policy Governance and Strategy – 83% vs the median score of 58% (4 Stars vs 3 Stars)
  • Direct – Listed Equity – Active fundamental – 93% vs the median score of 71% (5 Stars vs 4 Stars)
  • Confidence building measures – 80% vs the median score of 80% (4 Stars vs 4 Stars)

You can view Resolution Capital’s 2023 PRI Transparency Report here.

UN Global Compact Signatory

Resolution Capital is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact; the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative (www.unglobalcompact.org). We are proud to conduct business responsibly through alignment on universal principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

GRESB Investor Member

Resolution Capital is an Investor Member of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) which enables us to collect reliable data for ESG reporting and make informed decisions about our investments. Our membership also allows us to participate in collaborative engagements to encourage improved reporting by companies in the real estate sector globally.

Ceres Investor Network member

Ceres Investor Network member

The Ceres Investor Network includes more than 220 institutional investors managing more than $60 trillion in assets. They work with members to advance sustainable investment practices, engage with corporate leaders, and advocate for key policy and regulatory solutions to accelerate the transition to a just, sustainable, net zero emissions economy.

ESG & RIAA

RIAA and ESG RA member

Resolution Capital continues to participate in various Responsible Investor Initiatives relevant to our investing activities.

RIAA Responsible Investment Leader

Resolution Capital has been named a Responsible Investment Leader by RIAA, representing the top 20% of Australia’s responsible investors and the highest possible standards for investors.

Community Investment

Resolution Capital is also a strong supporter of our local community, sponsoring events where there is a strategic relevance to our business operations. We also collaborate with the PNI Foundation as part of our Corporate social responsibility initiatives.

  • Workplace

    Giving

    Workplace Giving

    We offer a Workplace Giving Program to our employees, facilitating donations to charities of choice via pre-tax salary deductions.

  • Strategic

    Sponsorships

    Strategic Sponsorships

    ResCap sponsors events where there is a strategic relevance to our business operations. We also collaborate with the Pinnacle Charitable Foundation as part of our Corporate social responsibility initiatives.

  • Current

    Charity Partnerships

    Charity Partnerships

    As part of our commitment to broad ESG principles, ResCap currently partner with four inspiring Australian charities which focus on supporting children in need, indigenous youth, and research into Alzheimer’s disease. All important areas impacting our communities.

Strategic Sponsorships

Children’s Medical Research Institute – CMRI

Funding cutting edge medical research aimed at finding treatments and cures for children’s genetic diseases.

Based at Westmead in Sydney, CMRI undertakes world-leading research to improve children’s health. As Australia’s first medical research facility dedicated to children, CMRI has been helping to save the lives of children for over 60 years. The award winning, independent Institute has built an international reputation for high impact research dedicated to tackling the leading causes of death in children: cancer, congenital disorders (birth defects), and genetic diseases.

Yalari

Empowering Indigenous children from regional, rural and remote communities to bring about generational change through providing trusted, quality educational opportunities.

Yalari is celebrating more than 15 years of an unwavering commitment to provide quality educational opportunities for Indigenous children from remote, rural and regional areas of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. Scholarships commencing in Year 7 are currently offered across more than 25 partner boarding schools across Australia, with Yalari providing holistic support and guidance through to Year 12 and beyond.

Resolution Capital supports Yalari’s annual Orientation Camp, which is the starting point for all new Year 7 students embarking on their boarding school journey. The Camp paves the way for a smooth transition from primary education and living at home to a secondary education at a boarding school. Year 7 students are given the opportunity to learn about boarding school life in an environment where they feel safe, can be inquisitive and share the journey with fellow students.In addition, Resolution Capital is also sponsoring a student from Moree in her boarding school journey in Sydney at Kambala’s Rose Bay, as a recipient of the Rosemary Bishop Scholarship Program.

Mirabel

Assisting children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug use and are now in the care of extended family (kinship care).

Mirabel believes that every child deserves a childhood filled with love, hope and belonging. A highly respected children’s charity operating for more than 20 years, Mirabel has a mission to break the destructive cycle of drug addiction. This is achieved through the delivery of proven programs for children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to their parents’ illicit drug use, strengthened by crisis support and parenting assistance for the kinship carers who take on the responsibility of raising them.

All Mirabel programs aim to provide young people with intensive youth support and the opportunity to practise a variety of life skills including conflict resolution, personal safety awareness, positive communication and developing a sense of responsibility for themselves and others.

Alzheimer’s Research Australia (ARA)

Funding research into blood biomarkers and the development of an early-stage diagnostic blood test to show “markers” for Alzheimer’s.

Resolution Capital’s partnership with the Perth based Alzheimer’s Research Australia (ARA) is helping researchers study the very early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, which is debilitating, strikes at random, and is incurable. Currently there is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s, and with 1,800 Australians diagnosed with dementia every week, the disease remains the second leading cause of death in Australia.

Analysis into early stage cell changes at the onset of Alzheimer’s – to better understand its origins – has been identified as essential to both develop the most effective treatment of the disease, and in the search for a cure. Results of the studies being funded will contribute new knowledge about the underlying causes of the disease, how it develops and its progression.

The ARA has a vision of a world in which Alzheimer’s no longer exists, and a mission to support leading edge research that makes it both treatable and preventable.