News Announcement

WHEB’s 2021 Impact Report: The time is now – investing in solutions to critical social and environmental challenges

22nd June 2022

Earlier this year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report which concluded that the world could still stave off the worst ravages of climate change, but that this required immediate action.¹

It may sound like hyperbole, but we are now in a time of consequences of climate change. It is ‘almost inevitable’ that global average temperatures will rise by more than the 1.5°C above pre-industrial level considered to be the safe threshold.² The hope is that dramatic action now will ensure that the temperature can be brought back below this threshold as quickly as possible.

Impact reporting

This extreme urgency is reflected in the title of our eighth impact report; ‘The time is now – investing in solutions to critical social and environmental challenges’.³ The report sets out the positive impact that is associated with WHEB’s investment strategy. In 2021, this included the avoidance of 385,00 tonnes of CO2e emissions, the generation of 547,000 MWhs of renewable energy and the treatment of 27.5bn litres of wastewater. Like last year, these and the other impact metrics have been independently reviewed by the Carbon Trust.

Delivering change

As impact investors, our intention is that every company in the portfolio should be directly helping to solve critical social and environmental challenges. The report sets out nine urgent problems facing humanity ranging from the prevention and treatment of illness and disease to the need to protect and conserve precious freshwater resources through to the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A ‘theory of change’ describes how each company held in the strategy helps to solve these critical challenges.

WHEB’s impact

In addition to the impact delivered by the companies in WHEB’s investment strategy, WHEB also creates positive impacts through our work engaging with businesses, policy-makers, standard setters and other investors. Over the past few years we have seen improvements in the gender diversity of the leadership at portfolio companies as well as a dramatic acceleration in the proportion of investee companies committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions. Just 2% of the portfolio had made this commitment in 2019. By the end of 2021 it was more than 40%.

Scope for optimism

For us, like for many of our clients and partners, the scale of the social and environmental challenges facing humanity can feel deeply dispiriting. However, it has been our experience over the decades spent analysing capital markets, that the headlines often miss underlying tectonic shifts in industrial change. Low and zero carbon technologies are now scaling rapidly. Important industrial tipping points are being reached. We describe some of these changes in our report. We believe dramatic change is underway and that it is accelerating and is irreversible. Action is urgent, but there is also still plenty of scope for optimism.

¹ https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-3/

² Ibid.

³ https://impact.whebgroup.com/impact-reports/

Important Notices

Risks include: the price of shares (“Shares”) in FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund, WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or WHEB Environmental Impact Fund may increase or decrease and you may not get back the amount originally invested, for reasons including adverse market and foreign exchange rate movements. Past performance does not predict future returns. The Fund invests in equities and is exposed to price fluctuations in the equity markets, and focuses on investments in mid-sized companies in certain sectors so its performance may not correlate closely with the MSCI World Index (the benchmark). For full risks, please see fund prospectus on www.whebgroup.com

General

This information, its contents and any related communication (altogether, the “Information”) is issued by WHEB Asset Management LLP (“WHEB Asset Management”). It is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to buy or sell any security including any shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund, including in the United States. It should not be relied upon to make an investment decision in relation to Shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or otherwise; any such investment decision should be made only on the basis of the Fund scheme documents and appropriate professional advice. This Information does not constitute advice of any kind, investment research or a research recommendation, is in summary form and is subject to change without notice. The performance shown does not take account of any commissions and costs charged when subscribing to and redeeming shares. WHEB Asset Management has exercised reasonable care in preparing this Information including using reliable sources, however, makes no representation or warranty relating to its accuracy, reliability or completeness or whether any future event may or may not occur. This Information is only made available to recipients who may lawfully receive it in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and rules and binding guidance of regulators. WHEB Asset Management LLP is registered in England and Wales with number OC 341489 and has its registered office at 7 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PE. WHEB Asset Management LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 496413.

FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund

FundRock Partners Limited (formerly Fund Partners Limited) is the Authorised Corporate Director of the Fund and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 469278 and has its registered office at 6th Floor Bastion House, 140 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5DN. The state of the origin of the Fund is England and Wales. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich . The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the Representative in Switzerland.

WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund

The Manager of the Fund is FundRock Management Company S.A., authorised and regulated by the Luxembourg regulator to act as UCITS management company and has its registered office at 33, rue de Gasperich, L-5826 Hesperange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich. The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the representative in Switzerland. The state of the origin of the Fund is Ireland. The Fund is registered for distribution to professional investors in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and is registered for offering to retail investors in Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Fund is also available for professional investors in Belgium and Hong Kong. It is not available to investors domiciled in the United States.

WHEB Environmental Impact Fund

The MSCI information may only be used for your internal use, may not be reproduced or re-dissseminated in any form and may not be used as a basis for or a component of any financial instruments or products or indices. None of the MSCI information is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Historical data and analysis should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance analysis, forecast or prediction. The MSCI information is provided on an “as is” basis and the user of this information assumes the entire risk of any use made of this information. MSCI, each of its affiliates and each other person involved in or related to compiling, computing or creating any MSCI information (collectively, the “MSCI Parties”) expressly disclaims all warranties (including, without limitation, any warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, timeliness, non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose) with respect to this information. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall any MSCI Party have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, punitive, consequential (including, without limitation, lost profits) or any other damages (www.msci.com).

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