Responsible investment, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, is taken into account in the investment policies and procedures of Westpac KiwiSaver as at the date of this PDS. You can obtain an explanation of the extend to which responsible investment is taken into account in those policies and procedures at westpac.co.nz/sustainableinvestment. We aim to invest each fund in line with our Sustainable Investment (SI) policy. For detailed information on our approach to and methodology for sustainable investment, visit westpac.co.nz/sustainableinvestment or see the SI Policy on Disclose. We are committed to acting on climate change risk and opportunity by aligning our assets under management to a 1.5°C temperature pathway (this pathway referes to supporting efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels). We are also committed to supporting the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. Our approach to SI focuses on four pillars (exclusions, ESG integration, stewardship and sustainable themes) as described in more detail in our SIPO and SI Policy.

As one of NZ’s largest fund managers, we recognise the immense capacity and responsibility we have to drive sustainable value for our customers, people, communities and environment. We believe investing sustainably helps us achieve this vision and manage investment risk and opportunities. Our approach to sustainable investment has four key pillars which are: Exclusions, ESG integration, Stewardship and Sustainable Themes. 

We are committed to supporting the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 or sooner, in line with global efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We are committed to aligning our investments to a 1.5°C pathway. As part of our sustainable theme solution we are also working towards investing more in companies and other issuers that provide or adopt solutions. Thus we are working to establish investing more in in biodiversity and ecosystems, water stewardship and pollution prevention and control.

We integrate environmental, social and governance factors into our investment decisions and expect the underlying investment managers, investing on our behalf, to do the same. We implement stewardship through exercising voting rights and engaging with companies via the underlying investment managers or our New Zealand fixed interest team, to communicate our sustainable investment expectations.

We do not invest in companies and other issuers that operate outside of our sustainable investment criteria.For more information on how we manage our exclusion, including how we divest if any any investment are inadvertently made, please refer to our SI policy: BTNZ-Sustainable-Investment-Policy-Westpac-NZ.pdfFor our fossil fuel exclusions: 

We exclude companies that have their primary business activity in the oil and gas drilling, oil and gas equipment and services, integrated oil and gas, oil and gas exploration and production or in the coal and consumable fuels subindustries as defined by Global Industry Classification Standards. We also exclude: 

o   companies deriving more than 10% of their revenue from oil or gas exploration, production or refining; 

o   companies deriving more than 10% of their revenue from oil or gas exploration in Arctic regions; 

o   companies deriving more than 10% of their revenue from the extraction of oil sands; 

o   companies deriving more than 10% of their revenue from shale energy exploration and/or production; 

o   companies deriving more than 10% of their revenue from the extraction of thermal coal, and 

o   companies deriving more than 50% of their revenue from the generation of electricity from thermal coal. 

We also exclude companies and other issuers in breach of international human rights, labour protection and/or environmental standards as enshrined in the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and their underlying conventions and treaties as assessed by our thirdparty research providers. The UN Global Compact is a voluntary initiative aimed at implementing universal sustainability principles. It comprises ten principles that define the minimum fundamental responsibilities that companies are expected to meet in relation to human, labour, environmental and anti-corruption rights.

When determining not to invest in a company breaching these principles, we assess the data from our ESG research providers, the underlying investment manager’s views and the effectiveness of their stewardship strategies with the company. We may choose to take additional time to divest while we review these factors.

We also exclude companies that are involved in the manufacturing of controversial weapons or components or services of the core weapons system. This includes nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, anti-personnel mines, cluster weapons, depleted uranium and white phosphorus. We exclude companies that derive any revenue from both manufacturing and selling assault weapons to civilians.

We also exclude companies deriving any revenue from the processing of whale meat. 

For more information on how we manage our exclusions please refer to our SI policy here https://www.westpac.co.nz/assets/Personal/investments/documents/Policy-Documents/BTNZ-Sustainable-Investment-Policy-Westpac-NZ.pdf