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At PIMCO we understand that the global bond market will play an essential role in financing a more sustainable future. As you will see in the report, our environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment efforts are an important focus for the firm as we believe they have the potential to benefit portfolios and broader society.
Over the past year, we have been focused on several work streams, one of which has been deepening and broadening our ESG analysis across major fixed income sectors. In particular, we developed innovative frameworks to expand our ESG capabilities in U.S. municipal bonds and mortgage-backed securities. We also developed a climate risk strategy specific to fixed income, and built tools to monitor our portfolios' alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.
Another area of focus has been issuer engagement. In 2018, we increased the number of corporate credit issuers we engaged with by more than 22%, while simultaneously increasing our engagement issuer response rate to 81% from 69% in 2017. We also enhanced our proprietary milestone system, COMET, which enables us to track the progress of our engagement efforts (e.g., industry-specific questionnaires, company calls and in-person meetings) based on ESG themes and the SDGs.
In short, ESG within PIMCO – as well as within the broader fixed income investment community – continues to gather momentum. We hope you get a sense for our progress and passion as you read the report.
For more information on our ESG progress in 2018, please download our ESG Investing Report.
Socially responsible investing is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the criteria utilized, or judgment exercised, by PIMCO will reflect the beliefs or values of any one particular investor. Information regarding responsible practices is obtained through voluntary or third-party reporting, which may not be accurate or complete, and PIMCO is dependent on such information to evaluate a company's commitment to, or implementation of, responsible practices. Socially responsible norms differ by region. There is no assurance that the socially responsible investing strategy and techniques employed will be successful. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed.
PIMCO provides services only to qualified institutions and investors. This is not an offer to any person in any jurisdiction where unlawful or unauthorized. | Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, 650 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 is regulated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. | For professional use only. PIMCO Europe Ltd (Company No. 2604517) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. PIMCO Deutschland GmbH (Company No. 192083) is authorised and regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). PIMCO (Schweiz) GmbH (Company No. CH-020.4.038.582-2) is registered in Switzerland. | No part of this article may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. PIMCO is a trademark or registered trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America L.P. in the United States and throughout the world. ©2019, PIMCO.
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