As an active investor, companies are influenced to promote sustainable business and good corporate governance. In this respect, Quoniam works together with Union Investment, which implements our guidelines in contributions and votes at general meetings and in direct dialogue with companies in the interests of our clients.
The engagement approach consists of three phases: in the pre-engagement phase, problem areas in companies are identified that can be addressed through engagement activities. The two levers in the actual engagement phase are the exercise of voting rights and direct dialogue. All votes are published on the Union Investment voting dashboard shortly after the AGM. The most common topics include corporate governance issues, controversial shareholdings, carbon emissions, the switch to renewable energies, diversity, environmental issues, and social standards. In the post-commitment process, the results of activities are assessed at regular intervals.
Engagement Report 2023
The year 2023 marks a period of crucial importance in our ongoing quest to protect the climate, and we are faced with some formidable challenges. In a year marked not only by an intensified political debate on green technologies such as heat pumps, but also by extreme heat waves, we have stepped up our efforts to continue on our path towards climate neutrality.
Back in 2021, we set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, both in our direct business operations and in our securities portfolio. A key step in this direction was the identification of 50 key companies in our portfolio, which together account for around 75% of greenhouse gas emissions. We have engaged in active dialogue with these companies to develop strategies to reduce their CO2 emissions and to commit them to binding reduction targets. Our engagement included intensive dialogue, targeted initiatives at general meetings and, as a last resort, the exclusion of companies from our portfolio if they failed to respond to our initiatives.
Our efforts also extended to the protection of biodiversity and human rights. A prominent example of our engagement in this area was our dialogue with major agribusiness companies and our activities in the field of human rights, which in one specific case led to an inspection of a production site by an independent auditor. The positive outcome of this audit reinforced our belief that regular audits are an essential tool for preventing human rights violations.
The importance of careful monitoring and transparent management of supply chains has been clearly highlighted through our engagement. With the introduction of the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act in Germany in January 2024, regulatory pressure on companies to pay greater attention to human rights and environmental protection in their supply chains has increased. We expressly welcome this development and are actively advocating that the companies in our portfolio fulfil these new legal requirements.
The 2023 Engagement Report documents our commitment to sustainable investing, which aims to deliver positive social and environmental impacts as well as financial returns. Combatting climate change, protecting biodiversity and promoting human rights remain key pillars of our efforts to contribute to a more sustainable future.
Exercise of voting rights in figures
Exercise of voting rights by region
Exercise of voting rights by voting decision
Company dialogues in figures
Company dialogues by subject
Shareholder Rights Directive II (SRD II)
For the sub-funds of Quoniam Fund Selection SICAV, we outsource our engagement activities to Union Investment and refer in this context to the Engagement Policy of Union Investment. The implementation of the Engagement Policy and the publication of the voting behavior can be found in the Engagement Report 2023.
In the future, we plan to introduce our own Engagement Policy that is compatible with the Engagement Policy of our parent company. The expansion of our proxy voting platform from Broadridge will also enable us to generate reports on voting behavior for our customers in the future. Engagement services are only provided by Quoniam according to contractual agreement. Only in these cases will Quoniam provide a corresponding engagement report.