The coronavirus crisis: hitting the reset button
This year the coronavirus pandemic unleashed an unprecedented crisis: it revealed the vulnerability of global systems to protect the environment, health and economy and reversed progress towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1. It is against this backdrop that we will mark UN Day on 24 October, celebrating 75 years since the United Nations came into existence and 20 years of the UN Global Compact.
While the world continues to tackle this unprecedented health, economic and social crisis, the UN Global Compact is calling on business leaders to unite to support workers, communities and companies affected by the pandemic. Asset managers also have an important role to play: by integrating sustainability into their investment decisions and engaging companies, they can understand corporate responses to the pandemic.
At the international business of Federated Hermes, we have always been at the vanguard of integrating sustainability into investment strategies: we embed ESG analysis and stewardship into our investment decisions – and this matters even more in times of crisis. We also launched the world’s first equity and bond strategies driven by engagement on the SDGs2.
The pandemic has magnified a number of sustainability challenges, such as the climate crisis, decent work, water stewardship and sustainable finance. We have an opportunity to confront and find solutions to these challenges to help create a more resilient and sustainable future for all.
In June, we established our bespoke climate hub where we challenged our equities, engagement, real-estate and fixed-income specialists on the topic of the climate crisis – and how we, as investors, can adapt to the new climate normal. Explore the hub here.
The coronavirus has shown us that to tackle a global crisis, governments and companies need to come together. This type of collaboration – but on a much larger scale – will also be crucial if we are to tackle the climate emergency.
Today, we focus on four other sustainability challenges identified by the UN Global Compact as part of its Uniting Business appeal – and demonstrate how some of our investments and engagements are aligned to these themes.
Here we bring together the latest insights from our experts and thought leadership on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on sustainability.