The PRI is a global proponent of responsible investment. The PRI works to understand investment implications of ESG factors and supports its international network of investor signatories in incorporating these factors into investment decisions. Franklin Templeton, Brandywine Global, Clarion, ClearBridge, Martin Currie, Lexington Partners, Royce, and Western are all signatories.
Stewardship and Sustainability Council
Our approach to sustainable investing has evolved from a primarily risk-based lens to a much broader and deeper perspective, recognising that stewardship and sustainability encompass the need to identify opportunities and risk, and to consider both impacts and outcomes of all our investment decisions.
Our autonomous investment teams have specific sustainable investment approaches with dedicated personnel that best suits each asset class, region, and specialism. These investment professionals are either directly involved in the consideration of material ESG factors, as part of their bottom-up fundamental investment process, and/or may be focused on stewardship and engagement activities.
To fully leverage the wealth of expertise across our investment teams, we established a firm-wide Stewardship and Sustainability Council (the Council), which reports on its activities to the Executive Committee of Franklin Templeton on a regular basis.
The Council provides a forum to bring together key investment leaders representing the diversity and depth of our different approaches and our clients’ sustainability preferences.
Led by co-chairs David Sheasby (Martin Currie) and David Zahn (Franklin Templeton Fixed Income), the Council represents an unparalleled opportunity for members to join relevant working groups, to harmonise the approaches to stewardship and sustainability across our investment teams, and to develop our overall philosophy guiding how we work together on common sustainability challenges and priorities.
Global Associations
Industry Collaboration
Franklin Templeton and our investment teams collaborate with organisations that promote and establish best practices for incorporating sustainability at the issuer and portfolio level.
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Principles for Responsible Investing
Net Zero Asset Managers initiative
An international group of asset managers committed to supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and to supporting investing aligned with net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner. Franklin Templeton, ClearBridge Investments, Brandywine Global, and Martin Currie became signatories in 2021.
UK Stewardship Code
Sets high stewardship standards for those investing money on behalf of UK savers and pensioners, and those that support them. Stewardship is the responsible allocation, management, and oversight of capital to create long-term value for clients and beneficiaries leading to sustainable benefits for the economy, the environment and society. Franklin Templeton, Western Asset, Brandywine Global, and Martin Currie have been accepted as signatories.
CDP
A nonprofit organisation that collects climate change, carbon emissions and water data from more than 2,000 companies worldwide. As an investor signatory, Franklin Templeton, ClearBridge Investments and Martin Currie have joined hundreds of other institutional investors in supporting disclosure on greenhouse gas emissions data and transparency on climate change policies and strategies.
Ceres
A nonprofit organisation that leads a coalition of investors, environmental organisations and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change, deforestation, and water scarcity and to support a sustainable economy. Franklin Templeton, ClearBridge Investments and Putnam Investments are investor network members.
Climate Action 100+
An investor-led initiative to engage systemically important greenhouse gas emitters in curbing emissions and improving climate-related disclosures. Franklin Templeton, Brandywine Global, ClearBridge Investments and Martin Currie are members.
International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)
Promotes effective standards of corporate governance and investor stewardship to advance efficient markets and sustainable economies worldwide. Martin Currie is a member.
Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)
A worldwide network of 175+ diverse organisations in the impact investing marketplace. Its members include institutional asset owners, pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, intermediaries, and advisors.
Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)
The European membership body for investor collaboration on climate change and the voice of investors taking action for a prosperous, low carbon future. IIGCC members are mainly pension funds and asset managers from European countries.
Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB)
An investor-driven organisation that provides a consistent framework to measure the ESG performance of real estate assets. Performance assessments are guided by material issues, and they are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement and major international reporting frameworks. Franklin Templeton and Clarion Partners are members.
IFRS Sustainability Alliance
IFRS Foundation Trustees created a new standard-setting board — the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to deliver a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards that provide investors and other capital market participants with information about companies’ sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
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Regional Associations
Anne Simpson
Anne Simpson is global head of sustainability for Franklin Templeton, reporting to the President and CEO and responsible for driving the company’s strategic direction on stewardship, sustainability, and ESG investment strategy globally. She brings more than 35 years of sustainable investment and academic expertise as well as extensive experience in the international regulatory and policy arena. She is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University appointed by the chancellor and teaches at University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business as a Lecturer in sustainable and impact finance. In addition, she is an advisory council member for the Official Monetary Financial Institutions Forum, a board member at Ceres, and serves on the steering committee of Climate Action 100+. She is the author of several books in the field, most recently The Financial Ecosystem: The Role of Finance in Achieving Sustainability, with Satyajit Bose and Dong Guo of Columbia University (Palgrave MacMillan).
Ben Meng
Dr. Ben Meng is executive vice president, chairman of Asia Pacific, and the executive sponsor of Sustainability for Franklin Templeton. He reports to the President and CEO and is a member of the Executive Committee, a small group of the company’s top leaders responsible for shaping the firm’s overall strategy. Previously, as CIO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), he was recognised for building on the pension’s long track record in addressing climate change challenges and opportunities. Significantly, he pushed for more corporate reporting on ESG, led efforts to incorporate ESG considerations into investment decisions, and vigorously backed CalPERS’ commitment to engagement. He has a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Davis, focusing his dissertation on modeling and reducing vehicular emissions, and teaches globally at universities on the topic of sustainability in private markets.
Global Sustainability Strategy Team
Our Global Sustainability Strategy Team has a broad range of experience across investments, sales, product, marketing, and risk. The team liaises across all business functions at Franklin Templeton and spearheads the implementation of organization-wide priorities such as climate reporting and data. Investment teams work directly with the team on a range of matters, including how to prepare and transition their investment capabilities to align with regulatory changes across the regions in which we operate.