Our path to sustainable investing

 

Transformation as an investment principle

For us, sustainability is not a fixed set of rules. It is an important part of our investment decisions and of how we assess which business models can endure over the long term.

In our ESG funds, we invest specifically in companies with resilient business models that can grow within planetary boundaries and provide solutions to global challenges. These funds are subject to strict ESG criteria, including the requirements of the FNG Label. HMTS has also been a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2023. Our selection is based on ESG data, international standards and our own assessment.

From data point to investment decision

We base our decisions on data and clear criteria. External analysis provides the starting point. We then apply our filters and assess each company individually.

01

Analyse

MSCI ESG data gives us a consistent basis for comparing companies.

02

Filter

International standards and our own criteria narrow the investment universe step by step.

03

Decide

Finally, we assess each company individually. We consider both sustainability and economic quality.

Illustration of the HMTS investment universe being filtered in stages
The investment universe is systematically narrowed through several assessment layers.

Note on the illustration: The potential investment pool is shown as a percentage of the fully selected investment universe. As more companies strengthen their commitment to sustainability, our investment universe may grow and the excluded share may decrease accordingly.

Clear criteria. Deliberate selection.

We apply three groups of criteria. All exclusions are listed below.

01UN Global Compact
  • Violations of human rights
  • Violations of labour rights
  • Violations of environmental protection standards
  • Violations relating to corruption and manipulation of financial statements
  • Competition violations, money laundering and tax evasion
02FNG Label
  • Companies that extract or process oil (revenue tolerance 10%)
  • Companies that use processes to extract and/or process oil sands and/or manufacture and/or apply fracking technologies (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Companies that mine coal and uranium (revenue tolerance 5%) or generate electricity from coal (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Manufacturers of essential components for nuclear power plants (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Manufacturers of firearms and conventional or controversial armaments (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Manufacturers of nuclear weapons
  • Manufacturers of tobacco products
03HMTS proprietary criteria
  • Minimum requirement: ESG rating ≥ BBB
  • Controversial gambling and betting (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Producers of video games that glorify violence (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Manufacturers of pesticides (revenue tolerance 5%)
  • Producers of pornography
  • Producers (revenue tolerance 5%), traders and users (revenue tolerance 10%) of genetically modified organisms
  • Manufacturers and traders of fur products
  • Animal testing not required by law
  • Companies involved in biodiversity controversies
  • Companies involved in controversies relating to land use
  • Companies involved in controversies concerning water consumption and withdrawal
  • Producers of palm oil (revenue tolerance 5%)
Investment solutions

Controversial weapons excluded

None of our funds invests in companies that manufacture controversial weapons.

Our funds  →