Colonial First State (CFS) has supported the call for index providers to remove controversial weapons from global indices.
The firm, which confirmed its support for the move in an open letter to institutional investors would be one of the first Australian companies to join 142 institutional investors, representing US$6.9 trillion in assets, who were calling for the exclusion of controversial weapons from global investment indices.
The weapons included anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, biological and chemical weapons and nuclear weapons.
“Together with other asset owners, we are in a position to make a huge difference to responsible investing, which we know is something many of our members value. We believe that active and passive investments should, by default, exclude controversial weapons,” CFS’s head of investment, Scott Tully, said.
“Responsible investment is a matter of stewardship and we continue to collaborate with external parties to deliver meaningful change throughout the investment value chain.”
CFS said it was on track to complete its own divestment weapons manufacturers by the end of this year.
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