Negative Screening
We use negative screening to exclude certain industry sectors or companies from your investment portfolio. The negative screening we currently apply to our investments include:
Tobacco
Investing in tobacco companies presents both investment and reputational risk.
We also found from International Labour Organisation research, that child labour is rampant in tobacco growing communities2. So we made the decision to screen out tobacco manufacturers and achieved the Tobacco Free Portfolios supporter badge.
To learn more about the benefits of going tobacco-free, please see the Tobacco Free Portfolios website.
2 ‘Why sign the pledge?’, accessed 1 October 2020, from UNEPFI, https://www.unepfi.org/psi/tobacco-free-finance-pledge/
Controversial Weapons
We also made the decision to screen out companies directly involved in the production of controversial weapons.
While there is no official global definition of controversial weapons, for Rest, it includes:
- cluster bombs
- landmines
- chemical and biological weapons
- depleted uranium weapons.
Sustainability themed investments
Our sustainability themed investments can combine strong long-term returns for our members with specific ESG outcomes (ie. through the use of renewables or the reduction of emissions).
Providing clean energy for Western Australians
Rest owns the Collgar Wind Farm in Western Australia. We’re the only Australian superannuation fund that directly owns and manages a 100% interest in such a large-scale renewable energy project in the country.
Collgar Wind Farm generates over 25% of Western Australia’s wholesale renewable electricity generation, displacing roughly 450,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. The annual generation of Collgar Wind Farm is enough to power around 130,000 Western Australian homes for a year.
Wind Projects in North America
In December 2012, Rest acquired an interest in Capistrano Wind Partners (“Capistrano”).
Capistrano is a partnership established to own and operate utility scale wind projects in North America. Capistrano currently owns and operates over 400 MW of operating wind projects across Texas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
In 2019, electricity generated at Capistrano avoided over 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to taking more than 200,000 cars off the road for one year3.
Using technology to lower carbon emissions
In 2019, Rest acquired an interest in Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT), alongside Macquarie Infrastructure Partners.
LBCT, located in Long Beach, California, is one of the greenest port terminals in the world. They use electricity to power their major plant, including the cranes which lift the containers to and from the ships, the guided vehicles which transport the containers around the terminal, and the large auto stacking cranes which load/unload containers from trucking companies. Traditionally this equipment has been powered by diesel fuel, which emits diesel particles into the atmosphere. By converting major plants to electric power, LBCT avoids these emissions.
For more information about how ESG is incorporated into Rest’s infrastructure assets, see our Infrastructure Investments page.
3Based on US power electricity generation and resulting CO2 emissions by fuel (2018)