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ESG

Overview

Brandywine Global is a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, a network of investors committed to investing responsibly and supporting a sustainable global financial system. Our status as a PRI signatory underscores our commitment to incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into most of our investment decision-making processes and to furthering our active ownership efforts while striving for the best possible return outcomes within our investment guidelines.

As fiduciaries and responsible stewards of our client's assets, we recognize that relevant and material ESG issues may meaningfully affect long-term performance, and that these factors can be critical components of our disciplined, integrated analysis and ongoing monitoring.

ESG Integration

With a value orientation as a shared philosophy across investment teams, ESG research is important to our comprehensive price and information risk analyses in most cases. We carefully strike a balance between implementing a consistent approach to ESG integration and ensuring that research and analysis remain authentic to each team's distinctive investment process. Our top-down, bottom-up investment approach extends to how most of our investment teams account for ESG risks and opportunities, as these factors are assessed from at the broadest country and macro levels, down to sector and company-specific themes.

Five facets to ESG integration when applied:

Dual Research Responsibilities

Portfolio managers and research analysts analyze both ESG factors and traditional economic and financial indicators.

Materiality

We evaluate material ESG issues that may impact a country’s economic growth, a company’s business activity, etc.

Proprietary ESG Methodologies

ESG frameworks are integrated into longstanding investment processes.

Improving ESG Scores & Fundamentals

We examine the extent to which an entity is demonstrating improvements or deteriorations in both its economic and ESG risk profile.

Engagements

Sovereign and corporate engagements are additive to our research.

Responsible Investing Capabilities

For professional or institutional investors only. This material contains the opinions of Brandywine Global which are subject to change without notice. ESG investments may be viewed as “sustainable, “responsible”, or “socially conscious” among other names. Analysis and integration of ESG factors is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the ESG criteria used, or judgment exercised, by Brandywine Global will reflect the values of any one particular investor. Different investment managers may utilize and evaluate ESG factors in different ways. Investing in ESG investments carries the risk that under certain market conditions, the investment strategy may underperform strategies that do not utilize a responsible investment strategy. An investment’s ESG performance or Brandywine Global’s assessment of such performance may change over time.

Our 2022 Stewardship Report explains why the resurgence of geopolitical risk serves as a reminder that governance still matters. We detail how credible and effective governance can serve as a tailwind for environmental and social factors. The report also highlights how the Firm bolstered internal governance to support our continued growth within responsible investment throughout the year.