Schroders has achieved top ratings for its alignment with the Operating Principles for Impact Management (Impact Principles), reinforcing the firm’s focus on global impact investment management.  

These results are the first independent verification of Schroders’ impact management and measurement framework, which was built in close collaboration with impact pioneer BlueOrchard, leveraging its 20+ years of impact investing expertise.

Since BlueOrchard’s addition to the Schroders Group in 2019, Schroders has been further enhancing its capabilities in impact investing across asset classes and addressing investors’ increasingly challenging requests to deliver returns, while also having a positive social and environmental impact.

The Impact Principles are the industry standard for integrating impact throughout the investment lifecycle, which are now hosted by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), of which Schroders has been a member since April 2021. The nine Impact Principles cover areas such as strategic intent, origination and structuring, portfolio management, and impact at exit, and include independent verification.

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As a signatory of the Impact Principles, Schroders engaged BlueMark, an independent provider of impact verification services in the impact investing market, to undertake an independent verification of the alignment of Schroders’ impact management and measurement system with the Impact Principles. The verification helps hold investments accountable for impact, determining their integrity and quality.

BlueMark assessed Schroders’ investment policies, processes and tools, spanning the range of teams responsible for their implementation and oversight, to assess how impact practices were embedded across the firm’s impact strategies, across both public and private markets.

Schroders scored top ratings, high or advanced, on all nine Impact Principles. This result means that Schroders now joins BlueMark’s Practice Leaderboard. 

Catherine Macaulay, Impact Investment Lead at Schroders, said:

“Asset managers have a key role to play in allocating capital to create investment opportunities whist also tackling pressing social and environmental challenges, such as the energy transition.

“BlueMark’s independent verification marks another milestone in Schroders’ sustainability and impact journey. The result is testament to our commitment to having a robust product range and the rigour and integrity of our Group-wide approach, strongly anchored on BlueOrchard’s best-in class impact investing framework.”