Service 02 · Innovative design

Designing a responsible investor policy

Formalising your responsible investor policy with responsible futures in mind: a vision of investment, the transformations you seek, and an organisation able to position itself in the face of uncertain futures.

Discuss your policy The approach
Intentionclarifying the investor’s reason for acting
Possible futuresexploring disruptions, controversies and uncertainties
Stakeholdersopening up the trade-offs for discussion
The challenge

From a declarative policy to one that drives decisions

A responsible investment policy should not merely describe ESG principles or respond to regulatory requirements.

It should express a vision of investment, specify the transformations sought and enable the organisation to position itself in the face of uncertain futures.

The challenge is to move from a mainly normative or declarative policy to one that brings together the elements listed here.

The aim of this support is to build a policy that is consistent with the organisation’s identity, operational in investment decisions and flexible enough to adapt to economic, social, environmental and regulatory change.

  • the investor’s reason for acting;
  • its economic, social and environmental responsibilities;
  • the transformations it wants to contribute to;
  • the risks and uncertainties that could change its choices;
  • trade-offs between financial performance, sustainability, impact and time horizon;
  • the role of different stakeholders in building and monitoring the strategy.
The approach

An approach in seven stages

From the investor’s intention to a policy embedded in practice, then reviewed over time.

  1. Clarify the investor’s intention

    Identify the mission, the responsibilities taken on, investment beliefs and the transformations the organisation wants to contribute to.

  2. Analyse the existing framework

    Review the SRI policy, investment practices, commitments, regulatory constraints, indicators, engagement mechanisms and governance.

  3. Explore possible futures

    Identify the main uncertainties, disruptions, controversies and transformations that could affect portfolios, beneficiaries, organisations and territories.

  4. Discuss the strategic choices

    Run workshops with stakeholders to make the trade-offs explicit: exclusions, allocation, engagement, transition, impact, time horizon, risks and value creation.

  5. Build the target policy

    Formalise responsible investment principles, objectives, priorities for action, decision-making arrangements and the related responsibilities.

  6. Embed the policy in practice

    Link the vision to investment processes, engagement policies, indicators, steering tools and reporting.

  7. Organise its evolution over time

    Set up review mechanisms to regularly revisit assumptions, objectives and practices in light of observed changes.

Depending on the assignment

Deliverables

  • Assessment of the existing responsible investment policy
  • Map of key issues, controversies and structural uncertainties
  • Identification of possible futures and their implications
  • Statement of the reason for acting and guiding principles
  • Formalised or overhauled responsible investor policy
  • Objectives / decisions / indicators / responsibilities matrix
  • Transformation scenarios or hypotheses
  • Strategic and operational roadmap
  • Principles for engagement and dialogue with stakeholders
  • Governance and review framework for the policy
  • Reporting architecture and monitoring indicators
  • Facilitation materials for investment committees, boards or management teams
What informs the approach

Action research and regenerative finance

This work is part of a broader reflection on the transformation of responsible finance and on investors’ capacity to factor possible futures into their decisions.

The aim is to go beyond an approach based solely on compliance, ex-post measurement or risk reduction, and to also question what investment actually produces.

Action research directly informs the support offered to investors: it connects foresight, strategy, governance, ESG frameworks and the design of action.

Read my work on regenerative finance →

  • the futures that investment decisions help bring about;
  • the transformations the investor wants to support;
  • the controversies and uncertainties it has to face;
  • stakeholder participation;
  • the relationship between finance, territories and the general interest;
  • the conditions for changing investment practices;
  • the capacity to learn and to revise policies over time.
References

Experience and work carried out

Workshops, foresight exercises and action research projects carried out with investors, companies and industry bodies.

  • Finance & asset managementFresque du Climat

    Climate Fresk workshops tailored to finance and asset management professionals, connecting an understanding of climate issues with financial risk, investment practice and portfolio decisions.

  • Foresight & innovationGroupe Rocher

    Design and facilitation of a foresight exercise on water in cosmetics to 2040: exploring possible futures, identifying disruptions and constraints, then generating ideas for innovation.

  • Biodiversity & investment strategyPRO BTP Finance

    Design and facilitation of a “Biodiversity & Finance” workshop with the ESG teams: dependencies and impacts, available indicators and building a biodiversity strategy applicable to an equity fund.

  • Distribution & sustainable financeAviva Investors France

    Supporting distribution networks in understanding and promoting sustainable investment products: co-design workshops, improved reporting and a better information journey for funds.

  • CSRD & sector reportingObservatoire de l’Immobilier Durable

    Design and facilitation of a workshop translating CSRD requirements into a reporting approach suited to sustainable real estate players: materiality, indicators, data quality.

  • Strategic foresight & solidarity financeFAIR / Finansol

    Design and facilitation of a collective process feeding the 2024–2027 strategic operational plan: scenarios, strategic priorities and possible transformations of the ecosystem.

  • Action research & local financial innovationFINéCOS

    Design of a prototype participatory local fund aimed at reconnecting savings, investors and local projects: territorial foresight, mapping of interdependencies, stakeholder participation.

  • Research, foresight & decision-makingCNAM

    Work on strategic foresight, organisational transformation and decision-making under uncertainty, which informs the design of investment policies beyond a purely regulatory reading of sustainability.

Building a responsible investment policy that does not only look at today’s risks, but organises the investor’s capacity to decide and act in the face of possible futures.

See a workshop example: building a biodiversity strategy →

Overhauling or formalising your policy?

Tell me about your organisation, your current policy and what you would like to change. I will get back to you quickly to set up a first conversation.

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See also

Service 01SRI audit and French SRI labelChecking that an SRI framework is consistent, operational and demonstrable. Service 03Short-term interim supportOperational support in asset management and responsible finance. Service 04Monitoring and decision supportAnalysing a market or theme to inform decisions.