Brave decisions: financing the transition

Fast view

In conversation with Hendrik du Toit: facing the transition

Ninety One’s CEO Hendrik du Toit outlines some key principles and actions for investors wanting to put their money behind the transition to a net-zero economy:

• If we want to achieve net zero for the world, we have to be inclusive. Decarbonising our portfolios individually won’t help anyone. The emerging world in particular must be included in our collective net-zero strategy.
• An investment approach based on exclusions and divestment will not achieve the transition. We need to engage with the companies we own, and with the countries whose debt we hold. Engaged investors can help ensure assets don’t end up in the hands of private owners who may care nothing about the planet.
• What has changed today from five years ago is that the mainstream is now behind the net-zero transition. When that happens, you can let market forces loose, with appropriate regulation and direction from the top.
• It’s now a question of execution. Let’s put the rhetoric away and deal with real-world solutions. Because if all we do is tick boxes as far as net-zero investing is concerned, our children and grandchildren will never forgive us.
• Without the market, governments will take too long to make progress towards net zero. As the savers of the world, we have to create the solutions and encourage governments to come with us, rather than wait for them.