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Sustainable platform offers transparency

A new platform that allows users to research sustainable investments will provide a high level of transparency to SMSFs and give trustees the opportunity to know whether investments matched their sustainability objectives, according to a sector manager.

The Sustainable Platform provides detailed independent sustainability information and analysis on over 12,000 companies via subscription.

It also allows SMSFs to upload their portfolio on the platform to examine how sustainable their investments are in meeting sustainable objectives, therefore creating more sustainable portfolios based on their values.

“If they’re doing their own investing, they can use it to find new ideas and investments, but also what we’re finding with some of our institutional users is that they don’t want exposure to fossil fuels or weapons, for example, so they’re using the platform to ensure the portfolio does not hold those, Sustainable Investment founder Mark Andrich told selfmanagedsuper.

“A lot of investors are starting to ask these questions because they want to make positive changes.

“Interestingly, the younger generations care more about the environment and social equity than they do about money and that’s really driving a lot of their parents’ decisions as well as financial services.

“The platform’s benefit to SMSFs is that it gives more transparency into their exposures to controversial industries that they personally don’t want to be invested in and previously that hasn’t been possible.”

As a testament to its value creation, the platform was recently labelled a “great resource” by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network in New York.

“While it has received recognition globally, the Australian market has just started to see how it helps investors sit alongside ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting to find and measure companies that are best meeting their values and UN sustainable development goals,” Andrich added.

SMSF service providers such as accounting firms, funds and online brokers can pay a monthly fee to have Sustainable Platform’s information available on their websites or subscribe to the service to help clients attain clear, non-financial sustainability information on their portfolios.

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