Where are you?
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Guernsey
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Jersey
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Singapore
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • Rest of World
It looks like you’re in
Not your location?
And finally, please confirm the following details
I’m {role} in {country} and I agree to comply with the terms of the website.
You are viewing as from Change

Investing for a positive future

Since 2001, the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team has used the Sustainable Future investment process to seek companies that help to create a cleaner, safer and healthier world and generate attractive returns for investors through identifying the key structural growth trends that will shape the sustainable economy of the future.

Why the Liontrust Sustainable Investment team

  • Experienced team: The Sustainable Investment team has more than 200 years of combined experience. Peter Michaelis, Head of the team, has been managing sustainable global growth strategies since 2001. View the team page here

  • Pioneers: Key members of the team were among the pioneers of sustainable investing, being founder members of the PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) while at Aviva and leading on issues that are now central to mainstream investing such as not owning companies exposed to diesel engines, coal and oil (in 2001) and moving to exclude natural gas (from 2016).  

  • Distinct, rigorous and repeatable process: The process seeks to generate strong returns from investing in companies aiming to deliver profits through positive social and environmental impacts. The managers look at the world through the prism of three mega trends – Better resource efficiency (cleaner), Improved health (healthier) and Greater safety and resilience (safer) – and then 22 themes within these. 

  • Selecting stocks: The managers identify well-run companies whose products and operations benefit from these transformative changes and which are helping to make the world cleaner, healthier and safer. Further analysis hones this list down to those companies that exhibit superior sustainability management, will deliver persistently high returns on equity and are attractively valued on a five-year view.
  • Integrating ESG: Each manager is an analyst and is responsible for conducting research on a given sustainability theme and the sustainability analysis of potential investments. As each manager is also responsible for the business fundamentals and valuation analysis, we believe it derives an information advantage that would be lost if these roles were separate.
  • Time arbitrage: By having a longer time horizon than most, the managers can patiently invest in businesses they believe have years of growth ahead, and take advantage of dislocations in the market when these businesses are trading considerably below what the managers believe they are worth. 

  • Engagement: This is an integral part of how the managers invest. Engaging on key ESG issues gives the managers greater insight, helps to identify leading companies and is used as a lever to encourage better business practices. 

  • Impact: The managers show how their funds’ themes and investments are contributing to the UN’s SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). The managers have for many years published all holdings for them. 

  • Mitigating CO2 exposure: Investments in the SF Managed Fund emit 77.0% less carbon (tCO2e) than the market it invests in as at 31 December 2022. This independent analysis includes direct emissions forming scope 1 and scope 2 emissions only. (Source: MSCI Carbon Analytics/Liontrust).

  • Advisory committee: The managers consult an external Advisory Committee, which comprises five experts in sustainability. The Committee’s role is to continually assess and challenge the team and offer guidance on evolving issues within sustainability. 

Our investment process

The investment process seeks to generate strong returns from investing in companies aiming to deliver profits through positive social and environmental impacts. The fund managers look at the world through the prism of three mega trends – Better resource efficiency (cleaner), Improved health (healthier) and Greater safety and resilience (safer) – and then 22 themes within these.

If a company has significant exposure to one of the themes, the fund managers verify how sustainable the rest of its activities are. For each company, the fund managers determine the ESG factors that are important indicators of future success and assess how well these are managed, via the proprietary Liontrust Sustainability Matrix.

Companies in which the fund managers invest will have robust business fundamentals with a proven ability to deliver high returns of equity (RoE) through sustaining margins and asset turnover. Typically, these companies have a maintainable competitive advantage through scale, technology or business model.

Sustainable Investment team

The team has been managing the Sustainable Future funds for more than 22 years. The team is headed by Peter Michaelis who has been managing the funds since launch. The fund managers all joined from Alliance Trust Investments (ATI) as part of its acquisition and were previously running the Sustainable Future fund range at Aviva Investors. 

Meet the tea

Funds managed by the team

The Liontrust Sustainable Investment team manages a broad range of funds across equities, bonds, and managed funds.

Funds managed by the team

Latest insights

View all insights
Simon Clements Simon Clements
An evolving industrial landscape: post-election insights from the US Simon Clements shares insights from a research trip to Chicago
icon 28 November 2024
Chicago
Lionesses Peter Michaelis & Martyn Jones
Investing alongside science to deliver a sustainable world Science drives humanity's progress and investment opportunities
icon 21 November 2024
Space
Linnea-Bengtsson Linnea Bengtsson
A postcard from Boston Linnea Bengtsson shares insights from an in-depth research trip to the US
icon 13 November 2024
Boston
Mike Appleby Mike Appleby
Gene therapy – a revolution in healthcare The evolution of gene therapy is now helping to treat and even cure some diseases while offering interesting investment opportunities.
icon 10 October 2024
Gene therapy
Chris Foster Chris Foster
Edwards Lifesciences: shaping the future of cardiac care Edwards Lifesciences provides minimally invasive solutions that are crucial to improving patient outcomes
icon 30 September 2024
heart health
Sarah Nottle Sarah Nottle
Intuitive Surgical – let the robotic Olympics begin The future of surgery will be one of collaboration between human ingenuity and robotic precision
icon 31 July 2024
Robotics

Key Fund Literature

Select all
Sort
{{document.title}}
{{document.title}}

Contact us

International Sales

Jeremy Roberts
Jeremy Roberts

Head of Global Distribution (ex UK)

Katharine Storey
Katharine Storey

Head of International Client Service

Contact us

Vanessa Lawley
Vanessa Lawley

Head of UK Client Service

Sagar Mehta
Sagar Mehta

UK Client Service – London

Jemima Kenworthy
Jemima Kenworthy

UK Client Service – Midlands and the North

Bella Hill-Baker
Bella Hill-Baker

UK Client Service – South

How to invest in Liontrust funds

Through a fund platform
Through a financial adviser
Direct with Liontrust
Key Risks 

Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income generated from it can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed. You may get back less than you originally invested. The issue of units/shares in Liontrust Funds may be subject to an initial charge, which will have an impact on the realisable value of the investment, particularly in the short term. Investments should always be considered as long term.
 
Investment in Funds managed by the Sustainable Future team involves foreign currencies and may be subject to fluctuations in value due to movements in exchange rates. The value of fixed income securities will fall if the issuer is unable to repay its debt or has its credit rating reduced. Generally, the higher the perceived credit risk of the issuer, the higher the rate of interest. Some Funds may invest in derivatives. The use of derivatives may create leverage or gearing. A relatively small movement in the value of a derivative's underlying investment may have a larger impact, positive or negative, on the value of a fund than if the underlying investment was held instead.

Disclaimer

This is a marketing communication. Before making an investment, you should read the relevant Prospectus and the Key Investor Information Document (KIID), which provide full product details including investment charges and risks. These documents can be obtained, free of charge, from www.liontrust.co.uk or direct from Liontrust. Always research your own investments. If you are not a professional investor please consult a regulated financial adviser regarding the suitability of such an investment for you and your personal circumstances.

This should not be construed as advice for investment in any product or security mentioned, an offer to buy or sell units/shares of Funds mentioned, or a solicitation to purchase securities in any company or investment product. Examples of stocks are provided for general information only to demonstrate our investment philosophy. The investment being promoted is for units in a fund, not directly in the underlying assets. It contains information and analysis that is believed to be accurate at the time of publication, but is subject to change without notice. Whilst care has been taken in compiling the content of this document, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by Liontrust as to its accuracy or completeness, including for external sources (which may have been used) which have not been verified. It should not be copied, forwarded, reproduced, divulged or otherwise distributed in any form whether by way of fax, email, oral or otherwise, in whole or in part without the express and prior written consent of Liontrust.