Stewart Investors, an active, long-only equity specialist focused on sustainable investing since 2005, has announced today that it is the founding member of the Responsible Minerals Initiative Investor Network.
The Investor Network will bring together a range of investment industry stakeholders to advance responsible sourcing and the renewable energy transition.
“We believe that investors have a role to play in ensuring that global mineral supply chains are free of human rights abuses,” said Chris McGoldrick, Senior Investment Analyst at Stewart Investors. “In the past, NGOs, regulators, and companies have often found themselves on different sides of the table when it comes to conflict minerals. But ultimately, addressing this problem will require a coordinated effort from all stakeholders to improve transparency and support responsible mining practices. Investors are central to this co-ordination. We firmly believe the RMI Investor Network marks an important step forwards towards both influencing and improving mineral supply chains. We look forward to working with the RMI Investor Network as an inaugural member and encourage others to join us in this important initiative.”
Many institutional investors would like to work with downstream companies to drive environmental, social and corporate governance changes upstream in the mining and smelting sectors, across geographies, but lack the necessary tools, expertise and connections. The Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) has launched the RMI Investor Network to promote responsible mining and mineral sourcing worldwide by giving investors access to world-class due diligence tools and collaborative opportunities. This engagement is crucial to achieving a just renewable energy transition, advancing the RMI’s mission to enable companies to source all minerals responsibly including from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.
“The RMI is very pleased to welcome Stewart Investors as the first company to join the newly formed RMI Investor Network,” said Jennifer Peyser, Executive Director of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI). “We value their insights and leadership as we scale the Network to support the investor community and its role in driving responsible minerals supply chains and a just green energy transition.”
This collaboration with the RMI Investor Network follows Stewart Investors’ long-term commitment to promoting sustainable development, and engagement on conflict minerals in the semiconductor supply chain. At the end of 2021, the firm launched a collaborative engagement: Tackling conflict mineral content in the semiconductor supply chain. This initiative was supported by 160 signatories amounting to US$6.59 trillion of assets as of November 2021. Since then, it continues to attract interest from a number of large financial institutions and has enabled engagement with some of the largest technology companies in the world.
Paul Chandler, Director of Stewardship at the Principles for Responsible Investment, comments: “Good responsible investment practice means investors engaging their portfolio companies and working more closely with industry players on systemic ESG issues that matter. The PRI welcomes the improved access, and the opportunity to develop best practice, that this development from the newly created RMI Investor Network entails.”
The RMI is the largest industry association in the minerals space working to address responsible mineral sourcing issues in industry supply chains. The RMI provides companies with a full ecosystem that includes due diligence tools and assurance, and helps companies make responsible sourcing decisions to improve regulatory compliance and source all minerals responsibly.