A responsible investor for nearly 35 years and a pioneer of listed impact investing in France since 2017, La Financière de l’Échiquier (LFDE) is publishing three impact reports, audited by Better Way,1 as well as the third report on its corporate Climate & Biodiversity strategy. These annual publications reflect the priority given to transparency, which is at the heart of the responsible investor approach we share with LBP AM, LFDE’s majority shareholder.
The impact reports of the three impact funds, classified under Article 9 of the SFDR, are freely accessible on lfde.com. They describe the impact generated by the companies in the portfolio and the engagements led by the management team in 2023. They present all the means used to contribute to the impact theses of the following strategies,
- The 6th report of Echiquier Positive Impact Europe, a strategy based on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and LFDE’s first impact fund.
- The 3rd report of Echiquier Climate & Biodiversity Impact Europe, a fund dedicated to the climate transition and biodiversity.
- The 2nd report of Echiquier Health Impact For All, a fund dedicated to access to healthcare.
Our approach as impact investors, formalised in 2021 through our impact doctrine, is constantly enriched by our active contributions to work in the marketplace. In 2024, inspired by the work of the Institut de la Finance Durable (IFD),2 to which our teams actively contributed, we formalised the theory of change3 for each of our impact funds. The aim of this process is to support the impact thesis of our funds and to identify any external factors that could limit the achievement of the change we are seeking, and on which it is therefore necessary to intensify our actions.
At the same time, we are consolidating our position at the forefront of impact investing through a process of continuous improvement. In 2024, we will be among the first signatories of the IFD Impact Investor Charter. As part of this process, we will publish a scoring grid for the impact potential of each of our impact strategies, resulting in a promising overall score for each fund, subject to review by the Board of Directors of Echiquier Impact SICAV. We see this innovative work as a way of refining our impact system and identifying areas for future progress. This approach demonstrates our capacity for innovation and our leadership in terms of impact in listed markets.
The third report on LFDE’s corporate Climate & Biodiversity strategy provides a comprehensive and informative presentation of LFDE’s sustainability approach to climate and biodiversity, going beyond the regulatory requirements of Article 29 of France’s Energy and Climate law. Divided into three parts, it reports in particular on the actions taken in 2023 in favour of the nine commitments of this strategy.
Olivier de Berranger, CEO and co-CIO of La Financière de l’Echiqiuer, said: “Listed impact investing is a key focus that we share with our long-term shareholder LBP AM. It is in line with our parent company’s pioneering commitment to sustainable finance.”
Coline Pavot, Head of Responsible Investment Research at La Financière de l’Echiquier (LFDE), added: “We believe measuring impact to be crucial, especially when it comes to reporting to investors on the impact of their investments. These reporting, transparency and informational processes are essential for us. We are also proud to be developing our approach to impact this year, building on the challenging work of the Institut de la Finance Durable in this area.”
1 Independent consultant.
2 The IFD’s aim is to coordinate, pool and accelerate the actions of the Paris financial centre to achieve ecological transition and transform the economy, in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
3 The IFD defines the theory of change as “a clear and transparent methodology describing the causal mechanisms through which the investment strategy contributes to upstream environmental and social objectives, the relevant investment or financing period, and the measurement methods”.
