Press Release
Neuberger Berman Named to 2020 PRI Leaders' Group, Maintains Top Score of A+ in All Asset Classes
Media Contacts:
(Americas) Alex Samuelson, 212.476.5392, Alexander.Samuelson@NB.com
(Europe) Fiona Kehily, +44 (20) 3214 9087, Fiona.Kehily@nb.com
(Asia) Kay So, 852 3664 8850, Kay.So@nb.com
(Japan & Korea) Kiyoko Yamaguchi, 8135218196, Kiyoko.Yamaguchi@nb.com
New York, NY, October 5, 2020 – Neuberger Berman, a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager, announced the firm has been named to the PRI Leaders' Group and earned straight A+ scores in the PRI’s assessment of the firm’s ESG integration efforts. 2020 represents the first year that asset managers became eligible for PRI Leader designation, which formerly included asset owners only. The new designation was awarded to only 20 of the 2100+ investment manager PRI signatories.
Describing the Group, the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) states: “The Leaders’ Group showcases signatories at the cutting edge of responsible investment, and highlights trends in what they are doing. [PRI] use signatories’ reporting responses and assessment data to identify those that are doing excellent work in responsible investment – across their organizations and with a focus on a given theme each year.” The 2020 theme is climate reporting. Full details on PRI Leaders including methodology can be found here.
Neuberger Berman has taken many steps to be a leader in climate reporting and has taken action within its portfolios including:
- Implementing a firmwide climate-related corporate strategy in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) assigning responsibilities and oversight of climate-related risks to the Neuberger Berman Board of Directors;
- Rolling out Climate Value-at-Risk Scenario (CVaR) analysis to all our investment teams and offering client reporting on the results;
- Systematically integrating CVaR into our proprietary ESG ratings to understand both physical and transition risks;
- Using the CVaR analysis to identify which holdings are priority engagement candidates across the firm based on their CVaR and Neuberger Berman’s economic exposure; and
- Implementing minimum coal exclusions across the firm’s U.S. registered open-end and exchange traded closed-end funds and UCITS funds.
Additionally, as in 2019, Neuberger Berman was awarded top scores across all categories in the PRI’s assessment report of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration efforts as of year-end 2019. The firm obtained the highest score, A+, for its overarching approach to ESG strategy and governance. Of note, Neuberger Berman earned an A+ for ESG integration across every asset category in which it reported, and is rated above the peer median in every category. More than 75% of Neuberger Berman’s assets are ESG-integrated.*
“We are delighted that the PRI has identified Neuberger Berman as a leader for our efforts to assess, manage and disclose climate risk and opportunity across our investment strategies. We have embedded climate scenario analysis into our investment processes across asset classes for several years now. Physical and transition climate risk has been a focus of our engagement efforts with portfolio companies, including our innovative NB25+ advance proxy voting initiative. And at the urging of our portfolio managers, we have formalized, and are in the process of implementing, an exclusion policy on thermal coal mining and coal generating utility expansion because our investment professionals believe there is no economic case for establishing new direct investment in these assets,” said Jonathan Bailey, Head of ESG Investing at Neuberger Berman.
Further details on the firm’s comprehensive approach to ESG can be found in the 2019 ESG Annual Report and at the ESG web experience at www.nb.com/esg.
The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment works to understand the investment implications of environmental, social and governance factors and to support its international network of investor signatories in integrating these factors into their investment and ownership decisions. For more information, please see www.unpri.org
About Neuberger Berman
Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategies—including equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge funds—on behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 24 countries, Neuberger Berman’s diverse team has 2,300 professionals. For six consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). The firm was awarded an A+ in every category in the latest 2019 PRI report for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $357 billion in client assets as of June 30, 2020. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.