Fidelity launches proprietary sustainability ratings

Fidelity International has enhanced its global research capabilities with the launch of its proprietary sustainability ratings. Comprising the asset manager’s equities and fixed income coverage universe of more than 3,000 issuers, the sustainable ratings will leverage Fidelity’s extensive research capabilities and ongoing engagement with management teams to provide a forward-looking evaluation of a company’s focus and trajectory on ESG-related issues.
The framework divides this investment universe into 99 sub-sectors, each with industry-specific criteria against which the issuer is assessed relative to its peers, using an A to E rating.
Marty Dropkin, global head of research, fixed income, commented: “Evaluating how effectively a company serves its stakeholders in the broadest sense is integral to our investment process.” She added that building this proprietary sustainability ratings tool was a natural next step that matches Fidelity’s bottom-up fundamental research process.
Fidelity’s proprietary sustainability ratings will draw upon the assessments of more than 180 equities and fixed income analysts who take part in more than 16,000 company meetings a year. The ratings will be updated annually or following a change of policy or an exceptional event at the company. The proprietary ratings have been fully integrated into Fidelity’s investment process and will be available to all of Fidelity’s investment teams as an additional source of insight and to support investment decisions across the firm’s client portfolios.