Evolve

We are continuously learning and advancing our understanding of ESG topics and trends. Our goal is to continue to improve our ability to recognize, evaluate and act on ESG opportunities and risks to stay ahead of the curve.

Formalized our diversity and inclusion strategic initiative

Harris established a Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council in January 2019 to promote efforts to attract and retain top talent by expanding searches to ensure that we are holistic in recruiting, enhancing HR practices, eliminating unconscious bias and focusing on ways to promote inclusion in our workplace.

The firm is also working with several organizations, such as Girls Who Invest, to promote the attraction and retention of women and minorities in the industry.

You can read more about our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion here.

Procured additional resources to assess climate change
We expanded our relationship with Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) to gain insights from their climate impact data. Our firm can now carbon footprint each of our portfolios for clients and apply various climate change scenarios to each of our companies. In addition, our firm committed to using the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) research to help our investment team assess each of our companies’ preparedness for a low carbon economy. The TPI is a global, asset-owner led initiative, which assesses companies’ preparedness for the transition to a low carbon economy. The initiative assesses companies on two dimensions, management quality and carbon performance, based on publicly available information.

Hired our first responsible investment (RI) professional

Our director of responsible investing works directly with our directors of research to implement our firm’s ESG policy and serve as a resource to clients, prospects, consultants and service providers for information regarding our approach to ESG. The director also continues to expand Harris’ knowledge, deepen its understanding and evolve its practices in ESG.