Edmond de Rothschild Makes Progress in Building a Sustainable Future

Jun 28, 2019 5:00 AM ET

June 28, 2019 - The Edmond de Rothschild Group publishes its fifth Sustainability Report, which illustrates the concrete ways in which it is living its vision to be “Bold Builders of the Future”.

The 2018 Report gives a complete overview of its performance and progress versus its 2020 Sustainability objectives, illustrating important developments and achievements in each pillar of its strategy across its Asset Management, Private Equity and Private Banking activities. It also features examples of the contributions of its wider “ecosystem” of philanthropic foundations, lifestyle businesses and yacht-racing endeavours.

The Report puts particular emphasis on the Group’s investment strategies that have a positive impact on the real economy and that contribute directly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also highlights the efforts ongoing to transform its culture and the mind-set of its employees in order to encourage the alignment of personal and collective values and support the transition to a sustainable, low carbon economy.

The ecosystem in which our conviction-driven investment house exists provides each of our activities with a strong sense of identity and authenticity that are the source of our values. Everyone involved is working toward a single vision, based on our conviction that wealth must be used to build tomorrow’s world. This conviction is embodied in visionary, pioneering investments which have a positive impact on the real economy and in the ambition for excellence and know-how that is developed over time in each of our activities to provide a unique experience for our clients.

Our goal for the years to come is to create even more synergies and continue to foster collaboration to enhance our impact and deliver on our commitment to being “bold builders of the future”. By sharing the projects illustrated in this report with all of our stakeholders, we are acting on our most sincere wish to support the transition to a more just, inclusive and sustainable society.”  

Benjamin and Ariane de Rothschild

2018 Report highlights:

Supporting the transition to a sustainable economy through innovation for responsible investment

  • 14% increase in assets under management (AUM) in the Responsible Investment category
  • 9 investment strategies make a direct contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • 2 investment strategies obtain the Greenfin/EETC label for their contributions to the Energy and Ecological Transition: infrastructure debt and environmental infrastructures
  • 93% of the assets managed by Edmond de Rothschild Private Equity are covered by responsible investment strategies
  • 45% of assets managed by our Asset Management business in France are covered by a carbon footprint (open funds and dedicated SRI funds)
  • Systematic ESG integration in Edmond de Rothschild’s external fund selection process
  • Formalization of an ESG Policy by our real estate entity in Switzerland

Establishing clear rules of the game to ensure ethical and responsible behaviour

  • More than 14,000 hours of training delivered on business Ethics & Compliance subjects
  • 88% of Group employees have followed at least one Ethics and Compliance training course

Creating a meaningful and stimulating work environment to support employee engagement

  • 100% of employees attended at least one training programme
  • 4,639 training hours delivered as part of the leadership development program
  • 55% of employees who benefited from an internal mobility are women
  • 25% of senior managers are women

Managing environmental impact

  • 27% reduction in the carbon footprint per employee since 2014
  • 3,473 tonnes of CO2 eq. offset through the “Insetting” programme with 13,892 trees planted
  • 84% of the electricity consumed by the Group is from renewable sources

Helping to build a sustainable society, in collaboration with the Edmond de Rothschild Foundations

  • 47 employees contributed to various philanthropic programmes in 2018
  • 20 start-ups with strong positive social and/or environmental impact benefited from the expertise and skills of the Group’s employees 

The Edmond de Rothschild Group is a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2011. This report represents its Communication on Progress (COP) and outlines its contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). It was prepared by conforming as much as possible to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. Key performance indicators were verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a member of the PwC international network.

For any further information or feedback on the Report, please contact:

Kate Cacciatore
Global Head of Sustainability
18 Rue de Hesse
1204 Genève

For Media Relations, contact:

Florence Gaubert

Read the Report