Through our investing approach, corporate engagement, and thought leadership, we seek to have a positive impact on people and the planet.

Social Impact Report

Sustainable and Responsible Investing

At Bailard, we strive to build sustainable and responsible investment portfolios to align our clients’ values with their financial objectives. Our intention is to build portfolios that perform better on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics than their benchmarks, and that avoid companies with egregious patterns of corporate behavior. Our process combines our proprietary ESG Capture® scoring framework with suitability assessments as well as product and industry screens. Our aim is that our portfolios do less harm to society and the planet, while also reducing exposure to long-term financial risk and providing market-rate returns.

ESG Capture®

We score companies on their ESG practices and performance using Bailard’s ESG scoring framework called ESG Capture®. We use this information in the building and managing of our portfolios to incorporate ESG leaders and avoid ESG laggards. Our ESG Capture® process allows us to mitigate exposure to risks including climate change; poor corporate governance; undisclosed political giving; poor performance on diversity, equity, and inclusion; and more – while also pursuing investing opportunities in the companies performing well on, or providing solutions to, these problems. Further, ESG Capture® is tailored to individual strategies to address each strategy’s unique investible universe.

Product & Industry Screens

For some strategies, we remove companies from our investable universe based on how their products and industries align (or don’t align) with the portfolio strategy. Many of our strategies screen out investments in private prisons, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, adult entertainment, and weapons. In addition to including the above screens, certain strategies are also extraction- and fossil fuel-free, while others are specialized to address particular issues, like animal welfare.

Suitability Assessments

When our investment research teams want to learn more from an ESG perspective about a security they’re considering buying, or if a company makes it into our investable universe but we have concerns about it from an ESG perspective, we evaluate the company using a tool called a Suitability Assessment. The Suitability Assessment includes information on the company’s ESG scoring, product and industry involvement, recent news and controversies, and peer benchmarking. Based on these inputs, the Assessment provides an overall recommendation as to which Bailard Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing strategies would be appropriate for ownership of the security in question. Suitability Assessments go beyond basic ESG and screening approaches, with the goal of leading to better alignment between companies and the values built into the strategies in which they’re owned.


Impact Investing

Bailard also offers impact investing strategies, which aim to have a positive impact on society and the planet while providing a return on capital. Clients who choose to make impact investing a part of their overall investment mix will have the opportunity to make a positive social and environmental impact by providing direct investment to companies and projects that align with their values – examples include renewable energy, decarbonization, diversity and inclusion, job creation, and affordable housing. Our impact investing strategy options include direct investments in both debt and private equity vehicles, as well as our own public equity impact investing strategy called Bailard Broad Impact.


Corporate Engagement

Investment firms, shareholders, and other stakeholders have the ability to influence long-term corporate behavior through corporate engagement. At Bailard, we work to actively engage with companies in our portfolios on social and environmental issues to help ensure favorable outcomes for shareholders, society, and the planet. Engagement can take many forms, such as campaigns, sign-on letters, direct company dialogue, filing shareholder proposals, and proxy voting.

Q4 2023 Corporate Engagement Update

Each quarter, we strive to deliver an update on our corporate engagement efforts — from those we conduct on our own to those we conduct with our partners.

Learn more

Shareholder Advocacy

As a shareholder, Bailard participates directly in dialogue with companies on ESG issues, often alongside other shareholders and with the support of shareholder and stakeholder advocacy organizations. Much progress is often made through such dialogues. When a company is unresponsive to dialogue, Bailard may work with our partners to file a shareholder proposal to go to a vote as a resolution at a company’s annual general meeting.

Proxy Voting

We vote our clients’ proxies in a manner that is aligned with our Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing approach.

Stakeholder Relationships

Bailard is a member of and/or involved with a variety of shareholder and stakeholder organizations, including: As You Sow, CDP, the Center for Political Accountability, Ceres, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). Issues covered by these organizations include: climate change; deforestation; water security; political giving; diversity, equity, and inclusion; human rights; health; corporate governance; and more.

All trademarks, logos, and brands are the property of their respective owners. Ceres®, the Ceres Logo, and SUSTAINABILITY IS THE BOTTOM LINE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Ceres, Inc.


Thought Leadership

At Bailard, we use thought leadership to illustrate the importance and relevance of the issues raised in our Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing and corporate engagement work. We produce and leverage our independent research, written pieces, and media engagement to that end.

SEE ALL SRII INSIGHTS

Past performance is no indication of future results. All investments have the risk of loss. There is no guarantee any Bailard account or strategy will achieve its investment objectives. The application of various environmental, social and governance screens as part of a socially responsible investment strategy may result in the exclusion of securities that might otherwise merit investment, potentially resulting in higher or lower returns than a similar investment strategy without such screens.