Russell Investments Australian Responsible Investment ETF

Product Name	Russell Investments Australian Responsible Investment ETF
Issuer	Russell Investments
Category	Investment
Type	Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
Target	Wholesale, Retail, Institutional
Certified Since	2015

Asset Classes	Australian only equities
Markets	New Zealand, Australia
Investment Approaches	Negative Screening, Positive Screening
It Includes:	More sustainable companies
It has some level of screening for:	Alcohol Armaments Fossil fuels Gambling Human rights abuses Pornography Tobacco
It fully excludes:	Alcohol Armaments Tobacco
Broker	Responsible Returns
URL	https://www.responsiblereturns.com.au/investment-options/russell-investments-australian-responsible-investment-etf/profile

Overview

The Russell Australian Responsible Investment ETF (the 'Fund') seeks to track the Russell Australia ESG High Dividend Index ('the Index'), which is weighted towards companies that demonstrate positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics after negatively screening for companies that have significant involvement in a range of activities deemed inconsistent with widely recognised responsible investment considerations. The Fund invests in Australian shares and trusts listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), with the aim of providing investors with exposure to an ESG enhanced, responsible investment portfolio.

Description

RARI is designed to track the performance of the Russell Australia ESG High Dividend Index. The Index takes into account ESG considerations in its selection process and eligibility criteria (see the PDS for more details), which includes:

» Negative or exclusionary screening: The Index seeks to exclude investments in companies that are inconsistent with widely recognised responsible investment considerations as represented in Australia.

» Positive screening: The Index is weighted towards companies that exhibit positive ESG characteristics.

RARI Highlights

» Designed to provide a simple, cost effective and transparent means of accessing an ESG enhanced portfolio.

» Companies are excluded from the Index universe based on specific criteria such as revenue generated from certain activities including the manufacturing and/or distribution of tobacco, alcohol, gambling, pornography and armaments. Companies which have fossil fuel reserves or are involved in the extraction or burning of fossil fuels are also excluded. In addition, companies which lag industry peers in approaching ESG risk may also be excluded.

» Company ratings and active weights in the Index are determined by two key factors. Each company in the investment universe is assigned a score based on two criteria: (1) total ESG rating provided by Sustainalytics2 and (2) an income score (calculated per the existing Russell Australia High Dividend Index methodology).

» To meet the needs of Australian investors, the index also seeks to improve expected future income (including franking credits) after meeting its desired responsible investment objectives.

» RARI is expected to invest in up to 100 listed companies providing a broadly representative portfolio of Australian listed companies.

As a signatory of the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) since 2009, Russell Investments has voluntarily committed to the six principles. In addition, Russell Investments operates a comprehensive Proxy Voting Policy to ensure that we discharge the ownership responsibilities that clients have delegated to us in a way that is consistent, responsible and effective. Please refer to https://russellinvestments.com/au/about-us/responsible-investing for more information on our firm wide integration of ESG and https://russellinvestments.com/au/solutions/funds-and-strategies/RARIETF for specifics to RARI.

Performance results

Product holdings

Product documentation

Supporting documents

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The products featured on this site have all achieved certification under the Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s (RIAA) Responsible Investment Certification Program.

Transparency & Verification

What sets these investment products aside from regular ones on the market is they all have some type of responsible or ethical strategy applied to them.

At a minimum, their issuers explain these strategies in public documents and open their offices and books to third party verifiers who check these strategies are implemented according to what you read about them publicly.

You can also click through to see the underlying managers and / or stock holdings in each certified product as well as access a certified product’s recent performance results.

Stewardship & Impact

In July 2019, we lifted our requirements of certified products which we are phasing in over 18 months.

We now require that issuers have organisation-wide commitments to responsible investing and they exercise their responsibilities as stewards of your money - through engaging with companies to improve sustainability performance and voting on shareholder resolutions where possible. All certified products now need to at least avoid significant harm and their issuers will annually report against any sustainability-based claims made by their products. This uplift in program standards is part of our passion for, and on-going commitment to, responsible and ethical investing.

Even though we're lifting the bar, we know your convictions to doing good with your money may be higher and so we have served up our member's certified products with a large dose of transparency and independent verification, so that you can draw your own conclusions from reliable information and choose investments that best suit your individual needs.

*Information Disclosures

While all reasonable efforts are undertaken to ensure information and links on site are current there may be instances where information and documents are updated during the course certification (eg. PDS, Fact Sheet). Certified product issuers are required to update this information as soon as possible on the Responsible Returns site, but there may be some extenuating circumstances impacting timeframes.

The certification program may also assess information provided for certification based on proposed future changes to a responsible investment process that is in-line with Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s (RIAA) Responsible Investment Certification Program criteria. In such instances, members are similarly required to update this information on Responsible Returns within an agreed future timeframe. Old document versions may be reflected on site until this process is finalised.

Russell Investments Australian Responsible Investment ETF

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