Colonial First State aspires to be a sustainable company, from the way we invest, to the way we communicate with our customers through our working practices and environmental impact.
Sustainable Investments
Sustainable investing is the explicit recognition that economic, health, environmental, social and governance factors affect a company’s ability to successfully operate over the long-term. In March 2007 the investment management arm of the Colonial First State Group became a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The PRI provides a formal framework for incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into its investment decisions. By implementing the PRI into the investment process, for the funds that are managed by Colonial First State, our fund managers will be better informed to make long-term investment decisions.
Colonial First State also leads the way in this new era of investment by giving Australians access to the Generation Global Sustainability Fund – a fund managed by a team of international investment experts that was co-founded by Al Gore. It’s not just a feel good exercise – the fund invests in companies that are considered to be taking advantage of new opportunities and that are well positioned to deliver long-term returns.
Earth Hour
Colonial First State was one of the first companies to sign on as a partner of Earth Hour, three years ago. This initiative has captured the imagination of our passionate staff and is a perfect match as we’re constantly looking for ways to make our business more sustainable. Each year Earth Hour becomes bigger at Colonial First State. Our offices around the country switch off their lights and over 2000 staff are encouraged to take part in their own homes too. We’re also committed to spreading the Earth Hour message through communications with our 850,000+ customers. Earth Hour has become more than just a one hour event. It’s brought about a revolution that has genuinely changed the way people work at Colonial First State. Sign up for Earth Hour here.
PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark
As the founding partner of ‘PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark’, we encourage all our clients to make the change to paper-free investing and opt-in for electronic communications. And for every client who converts to paper-free investing, Colonial First State donates $2 to the 'PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark' campaign. Since launching this initiative in 2007 over 170,000 clients have signed up and we’ve donated over $340,000. Sign up to receive electronic communications.
Find out more about PaperCutz 4 Planet Ark.
Sustainable Practices
The sustainable movement has swept through the company and many ideas from staff have been implemented over the past few years. Examples of these include:
Energy reduction
- Motion-sensor lighting in the meeting rooms, bathrooms and lift lobbies
- Individual light switches for staff so they can switch off lights not in use
- Reduction in the number of hours each day office lights are switched on
- Placement of timers on electrical equipment to reduce usage
- Opening up the stairwells to reduce the number of short lift trips between floors
- Commitment to installing LCD computer monitors which use less power
Paper and materials reduction
- Client communications encouraging thousands of customers to ditch paper-based communications in favour of electronic ones, saving reams of paper and directing cost savings to Planet Ark
- Printing fewer documents and using more double sided printing
- Paper recycling bins at every desk
- More energy efficient printers installed
- Installing waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets to save water.
At Colonial First State sustainability is more than just a practice it’s a part of our company culture and we are dedicated to maintaining and increasing our commitment to these practices in the future.
Find out how else Colonial First State supports the community