“Building on financial relationships to enable the environmental and social performance of responsible portfolios?”

The recent shift in the way environmental and social performance (E&S) is measured, from an individualized, asset-by-asset approach (embodied in screening), to a portfolio approach (i.e. the result of the relationship between the assets that make up the portfolio, e.g. aligned or net-zero portfolio), raises questions about its potential impact on the responsible investment process, and in particular on the interaction between financial and E&S performance. In this context, we propose through an exploratory research, anchored in the study of Mirova's alignment measurement methodology, to study the extent to which E&S performance management at this "new" level, could enable asset managers to (re)capitalize on financial relationships (interdependencies) between assets, which would in turn enable a certain form of E&S performance to emerge. We ask if these "enabling" financial relationships, could otherwise remain unrecognized, when assets are considered in isolation and filtered blindly with regard to their role in the portfolio, as we observe within screening logics. Lastly, our paper raises the question of the conditions required to frame the reintegration of such relationships, in view of the risks they could pose to the integrity of E&S performance.