Mandatum monitors its major fixed income and equity investments regularly with regard to biodiversity. If any abuses or deficient processes come to light, Mandatum tries to engage with the investee company and find out how they intend to rectify their operations.
Mandatum keeps abreast of the development of regulations, measurement methods and tools linked to biodiversity, and works to develop its own investment analysis. The analysis tools used by the company already take biodiversity into account as part of the data produced on the investees.
In indirect fixed income and equity investments made through funds, Mandatum assesses the consideration of biodiversity as part of the fund’s investment processes alongside other sustainability factors.
Mandatum also monitors the development of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework.
In a built environment, nature plays a major role. Green areas and vegetation offer protection from, for example, noise and the sun, in addition to absorbing flood waters and stormwater. Additionally, green areas offer a habitat for pollinators, for instance.
The land use design and planning practiced by Finnish municipalities steer the planning and placement of parks and green areas. This also forms the minimum level for direct real estate investment in terms of biodiversity. Furthermore, in the direct real estate investments managed by Mandatum, the opportunity to increase solutions supporting the surrounding ecosystem through active measures is looked into on a property-specific basis. The implementation varies based on the characteristics of each property, when it comes to, for example, green area investments and pollinator nests. Biodiversity is considered in connection with the acquisition of properties, and in maintenance and sustainability certification.
The majority of real estate investments managed by external asset managers consist of the European Real Estate (ERE) programme worth more than EUR 350 million, which invests mostly through closed funds in the Western European real estate markets. In Mandatum’s ERE programme, sustainability factors play a central role. For example, according to the strategy of the latest investment basket, ERE III, the plan is to construct a portfolio consisting largely of green real estate.
In these investments, the external asset manager considers biodiversity already when assessing potential investees. This is often included in the assessment of the opportunities offered by the property and its environment and yard areas, including the possible addition of green areas in the investment plan.
Mandatum conducts a sustainability survey of the external asset managers each year, asking them how they take biodiversity into consideration. This offers a tool for monitoring how things develop.
Examples of practical measures carried out by the target fund asset manager during ownership at the investee level are: