WHEB Sustainability was one of the first UK funds to base their investment approach on sustainability.
In their terms, sustainability takes on a much wider interpretation than just green technology but adopts the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for investing and aligning policy. They have broken down their strategy into the 17 goals to highlight exactly how they align to each of them. Click here
They have stated that 7% of the strategy is invested in companies that directly support SDG 6 ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’.
About 40 percent of the world’s population is affected by a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation. As global temperatures rise, that total is expected to increase. Already, some of the poorest countries in the world are affected by drought, resulting in famine, malnutrition and disease.
An example of a leading firm (held in the WHEB fund) delivering clean water solutions is Xylem.
Xylem manufactures a range of pumps, filtration and testing and treatment equipment for the water industry. The company’s Watermark programme also seeks to ‘provide and protect safe water resources for communities in need around the world and educate people about water issues’.
During 2021 a focus will be on providing sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and providing education to frontline healthcare workers and communities across six countries experiencing COVID-19 spikes. For example, in India, WASH services will be rehabilitated for 70,000 people from Mumbai’s most low income areas and assistance will be provided to disaster-prone coastal communities in Bangladesh.
To learn more about Xylem and the work that they are doing, click here.
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