Annual Report 2017

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110 Rothschild & Co | Annual Report 2017
Corporate Social Responsibility
4.4.5 Information on how the investment
decision-making process takes environmental,
social and governance (ESG) criteria into
consideration
Rothschild & Co provides a comprehensive range of private wealth
services to some of the world’s wealthiest and most successful families,
entrepreneurs, foundations and charities.
As a global specialist asset manager delivering bespoke investment
management and advisory services to institutional clients, financial
intermediaries, and third-party distributors, the Group understands that
consistent performance must be delivered in the long-term.
ESG approaches to investment decision-making are the responsibility
of the individual business entities. By taking this approach, Group entities
recognise risks and opportunities relevant to their own investment
strategies and can address ESG criteria appropriately.
In 2017, the Group conducted an analysis of its ESG and Responsible
Investment (RI) landscape. All major Group entities have or are in the
process of developing an ESG policy and all are investigating becoming
UN PRI signatories. Two entities, Rothschild Martin Maurel and Five Arrows
Managers, two of Rothschild & Co’s asset management and/or private
banking entities, are already UN PRI signatories.
Over the next 12 months, Rothschild & Co will evaluate the requirements
and define the means needed to contribute towards financing the energy
and ecological transition.
4.5 Measures taken to preserve or develop
biodiversity
No specific measures have been taken thus far to preserve or further
develop biodiversity at Group level. With that said, Rothschild & Co is
committed to protecting, as far as practicable, biodiversity affected by the
Group’s operations. This commitment stems from the Rothschild family’s
long standing historical links to species discovery and protection. It is for
this reason that the Group supports the Sustainable Development Goal 15
defined by the United Nations (Life on Land). In due course, the Group will
investigate how it can best contribute to this goal and further preserve or
develop biodiversity.
Additional notes for Section 4 Environment Information
General data notes
The reporting period is from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.
The total Group FTE headcount used to calculate the environmental
impact per FTE uses HR finance headcount data provided by the Global HR
team. This figure is added to the headcount manually reported by the site
Environmental Advocates, of third-party, service provider or contractor
headcount. The result of adding the two headcount numbers is used to
calculate the impact per FTE (Impact/FTE).
Impact per FTE is used to normalise the total impact against headcount.
The full time equivalent headcount (FTE) is taken from the human resources
(HR) system as a “snapshot in time” on 31 December 2017. Third party
service provider or contractor employee headcount is not captured by the
HR system; instead, this headcount is manually captured and added to the
HR FTE figure provided by HR.
In order of largest headcount, the scope of offices measured for
environmental impact in 2017 was the same as in 2016/2017. Specifically,
the offices providing environmental data were Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva,
Guernsey, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Madrid, Milan, Mumbai, New
York, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich.
Where assumptions, estimates or changes have been made, this is
explained in the following notes for each section.
Waste disposal data notes
Total waste data from the Frankfurt office is now provided by the building
management. In previous years the office estimated their waste based on
information provided by the city authorities. The building management have
confirmed that they do not compost any waste, hence no figure is recorded
in 2017.
Improvements to data collection caused four sites to re-state the figures
they provided for the financial year ended 31 March 2017 which has
affected the Reuse, Recycling, Anaerobic Digestion and Incineration values
previously reported. The change to the Anaerobic Digestion figure has also
caused a revision to the Food Waste total for the financial year ended
31 March 2017.
Materials use data notes
Improvements to data collection have caused three sites to revise the
calculations provided for office paper, paper towels and plastics for the
financial year ended on 31 March 2017.
Energy consumption data notes
Greenhouse Gas Emissions have been calculated using 2017 DEFRA
emissions factors.
The total electricity figure is reported as CO2e, however non-United Kingdom
electricity emissions are in tCO2. DEFRA national electricity factors for
non-United Kingdom offices are no longer available. Only for CO2 is
accessible from the International Energy Agency.
One office reported a correction to the electricity consumption figure
reported for the financial year ended 31 March 2017.
Water use data notes
Additional information supplied by one landlord enabled one site to revise
their water consumption data for the financial year ended on 31 March
2017, and provide an accurate measurement for the period.
GHG emissions data notes
Energy (Scope 2)
An updated Energy Factor for one office/country has resulted in a decrease
of 55.58 tCO2e, while one office revised the electricity consumption
reported for financial year ended on 31 March 2017.
Both actions have resulted in an increase in market based Scope 2
emissions of 100.7 tCO2 for the financial year ended on 31 March 2017.