Built on Robeco’s successful credit capability, with its flagship global credit fund, the strategies use RobecoSAM’s innovative and proprietary SDG investing framework. The renaming highlights this part of the investment process, and thus increases transparency for investors.
The proprietary SDG investing framework consists of a three-step approach: first, it determines the extent to which a company’s products and services contribute to the SDGs. Second, the analysts verify whether the company’s operations are compatible with the SDGs. And, third, a check is carried out to establish whether the company has been involved in controversies such as oil spills, fraud or bribery. The result of this three-step analysis is expressed as an SDG score. Research has proven that there are more than sufficient issuers to create a well-diversified credit portfolio that has a positive impact on the SDGs.
The renaming is part of an ambition to create clear-cut product lines within the field of sustainable investing, with the Robeco brand being used for broad ESG integration and sustainability focus strategies and RobecoSAM for sustainability impact and thematic strategies. The two credit strategies will complement the existing RobecoSAM SDG strategies, consisting of RobecoSAM Global SDG Equities, launched in 2017, and RobecoSAM Global SDG Credits, launched in 2018.