Eligibility:

To enter, the fund best exemplifies your capability, must:

>  have a minimum three year track record

>  provide the oldest share class fund as best exemplifies

>  have an ISIN code 

>  provide prospectus or fact sheet

Winning Titles

The strategy with the highest final score in its peer group wins the Best-in-Class award. Up to two Outstanding Achiever awards will be given to Strategies within a 5% margin below the Best-in-Class.

Judges will evaluate the fund based on the alignment level with the EU's SFDR Article 8 and 9 regulatory technical standards for sustainable impact. An independent ESG and key sustainability metrics report of the funds submitted by the candidates will be drawn from BlueOnion to demonstrate the walking the talks of the funds' ESG scoring, Risk ranking, and rating, as well as the Paris Agreement's Temperature alignment against their peers. 

3 Steps to the Title:

Step 1: – Decide which investment strategies you would like to put forward. 

Step 2: – Fill out the Multiple Choice Questionnaire for each entered category. Due to increasing entries yearly, we can no longer offer each fund an opportunity to the Gatekeeper Forum. To present the best of the best in front of the judges, candidates who have met the qualifying threshold will be shortlisted to enter the Gatekeeper Forum. These shortlisted candidates are determined by the quality of the answers provided in the questionnaire.

Step 3: – Attend The Gatekeeper Forum, where judges will rate their interviews with the PM/CIO based on the criteria specified for each type of award. This is a subjective process, and the judges will be provided with the submissions, the independent financial performance reporting provided by Morningstar, and the sustainability performance by BlueOnion. The forum is highly curated, and only the PM, CIO, or Product Specialists are invited to meet the Senior Gatekeepers in person. During the 30-minute session, 3-5 jurors will ask in-depth questions along the five critical pillars to further understand team practices.  Jurors signed up/assigned to a particular peer group will score based on their experience with the fund house and team and the evidence presented. 

Other Rules:
Submitting Materials for Multiple Regions – If you are entering the same category for more than one region, you may use the same information, documents, and flagship fund across all the areas. For example, you've entered your global fixed-income strategy for Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. You may use the same information for all three regions.  You would still need to complete the submission for each region separately.  Submit all the answers and documents for the first region, then simply input the related submission ID for the other regions.

Submitting Materials for Multiple Strategies – Separate groups of jurors will evaluate different product types, so please make sure there is one submission per strategy. Please submit separate entries for each system, except Pillar 5-Corporate Strength (only need to submit this once for all entries). DO NOT send one request to represent different strategies.

Merging Categories – To ensure the quality of the awards, categories with less than three funds participating may be incorporated into a larger category of the same kind without prior notice.

1. Alternative Energy
2. Carbon Reduction
3. Circular Economy
4. Ecosystem Regeneration
5. Energy Transition
6. Environmental Impact
7. Food and Nutrition
8. GSS Bond
9. Natural Resources
10. Regenerative Agriculture
11. Social Impact
12. Sustainable Living
13. Sustainable Planet/World
14. Waste management
15. Water Focused

Please note that the final naming of the award category may differ from the list displayed here.

Judges will evaluate the fund based on the alignment level with the EU's SFDR Article 8 and 9 regulatory technical standards for sustainable impact. An independent ESG and key sustainability metrics report of the funds submitted by the candidates will be drawn from BlueOnion to demonstrate the walking the talks of the funds' ESG scoring, Risk ranking, and rating, as well as the Paris Agreement's Temperature alignment against their peers. You can enter multiple funds for each category by registering under a separate entry.

Eligibility:

To enter, the fund best exemplifies your capability, must:

>  have a minimum one year track record

>  provide the oldest share class fund as best exemplifies

>  have an ISIN code 

>  provide prospectus or fact sheet

Winning Titles

The strategy with the highest final score in its peer group wins the Best-in-Class award. Up to two Outstanding Achiever awards will be given to Strategies within a 5% margin below the Best-in-Class.

3 Steps to the Title:

Step 1: – Decide which investment strategies you would like to put forward. 

Step 2: – Fill out the Multiple Choice Questionnaire for each entered category. Due to increasing entries yearly, we can no longer offer each fund an opportunity to the Gatekeeper Forum. To present the best of the best in front of the judges, candidates who have met the qualifying threshold will be shortlisted to enter the Gatekeeper Forum. These shortlisted candidates are determined by the quality of the answers provided in the questionnaire.

Step 3: – Attend The Gatekeeper Forum, where judges will rate their interviews with the PM/CIO based on the criteria specified for each type of award. This is a subjective process, and the judges will be provided with the submissions, the independent financial performance reporting provided by Morningstar, and the sustainability performance by BlueOnion. The forum is highly curated, and only the PM, CIO, or Product Specialists are invited to meet the Senior Gatekeepers in person. During the 30-minute session, 3-5 jurors will ask in-depth questions along the five critical pillars to further understand team practices.  Jurors signed up/assigned to a particular peer group will score based on their experience with the fund house and team and the evidence presented. 

Other Rules:
Submitting Materials for Multiple Regions – If you are entering the same category for more than one region, you may use the same information, documents, and flagship fund across all the areas. For example, you've entered your global fixed-income strategy for Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. You may use the same information for all three regions.  You would still need to complete the submission for each region separately.  Submit all the answers and documents for the 1st region, then simply input the related submission ID for the other regions.

Submitting Materials for Multiple Strategies – Separate groups of jurors will evaluate different product types, so please make sure there is one submission per strategy. Please submit separate entries for each system, except Pillar 5-Corporate Strength (only need to submit this once for all entries). DO NOT send one request to represent different strategies.

Merging Categories – To ensure the quality of the awards, categories with less than three funds participating may be incorporated into a larger category of the same kind without prior notice.

The ESG Integration Award recognizes investment management companies that demonstrate commitments to integrate ESG into their investment decision-making throughout the investment process for the entire suites of their products and investment activities. It reinforces ESG's role in Long-Term Value Creation.

Categories available for pitching:

1. Best Equity ESG Integration
2. Best Fixed Income ESG Integration
3. Best Multi-Assets ESG Integration
4. Best Alternative ESG Integration

Judges will be looking for qualities in the:

• Systematic approach: innovative approaches to applying environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis to the funds being managed across the board, despite the sectors, countries, and asset classes
  Alignment level with the EU's SFDR Article 8 regulatory technical standard for ESG integration
• Buy-in of the team and implementation: how multiple units come to a consensus for the performance across the board
• Disclosure: disclosed policies and procedures for integrating ESG information and metrics into the investment process communicated to investee companies
• Execution: resources, constraints, and timeline management
• Outcomes: How are results measured?

Judges will also evaluate the fund based on the alignment level with the EU's SFDR Article 8 regulatory technical standard for ESG integration.

An independent ESG and critical sustainability metrics report of the funds submitted by the candidates will be drawn from BlueOnion to demonstrate the walking the talks of the funds' ESG scoring, Risk ranking, and rating, as well as the Paris Agreement's Temperature alignment against their peers. 

This award recognizes fund houses putting the welfare of the beneficiaries at the forefront. This award is given to the fund houses that embrace Responsible Investing and practice Active Ownership and integrate ESG into their ownership policies and practices while driving positive real-world goals. Apart from illustrating their collaborative engagement initiatives with the investees, they prioritize outcomes at the society/economy-wide scales, such as addressing climate change and corruption, rather than purely focusing on pure risks and returns of the holdings in the portfolio.

Judges will be looking for qualities in:

• the foundation of the practical stewardship principles
• ongoing development and implementation of the stewardship policies
• monitoring and assessment techniques of investee companies
• the collaboration goals and engagement principles with investee companies and investors
• how voting rights are exercised
  how ESG is promoted as long-term value creation
• level of transparency, disclosure, and reporting

Multiple funds of the candidates will be drawn randomly from BlueOnion* to demonstrate the walking the talks of the fund houses’ ESG, GC, and Temperature performances against their peers.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Transparency Award recognizes investment management companies that demonstrate commitment to disclosing the firm's and their investment portfolios' climate-related financial risks and how their existing processes support their investment decisions.

Judges will also evaluate the house based on the level of disclosure under the TCFD guideline of the four pillars of Governance, Strategy, Goals & Metrics, and Risk Management, and the other 11 metrics associated with the four pillars.

Judges will be looking for qualities in the:

• TCFD Report from the last reporting cycle
• Additional voluntary disclosures beyond regulatory requirement
• Percentage of companies in the constituents that are aligned with the disclosures of the four pillars and 11 topics and their qualities of disclosure
• Policies and procedures disclosed for strategies tackling physical and transition risks described in the reporting, and the goals and metrics set for achievement

BlueOnion* will provide an independent TCFD alignment report for the fund to assist the jurors with the assessment. The information will reveal the underlying companies of the constituents that are aligned with the disclosure requirement based on five levels: Basic, Foundation, Core, Enhanced, and Unaligned.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Climate Risk Management Award recognizes an investment house that identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks as part of the core risk management protocol.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm to manage climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How the manager engages with the investees to set climate-risk metrics and encourage sustainable practices in their operations, and the same goes for fixed-income houses, their collaborative and collective engagement
• How the manager's risk management teams integrate traditional investment processes to monitor counterparty and credit risks
• How the team uses carbon-related and climate risk metrics to enable a deeper financial analysis of potential risks during security selection
• What are the metrics being used for risk mitigation?
• The paths the manager has taken before divestment and the stakeholder's protection.

BlueOnion* will provide independent Risk Scores for the funds managed by the manager randomly chosen to assist the jurors with the assessment. The information will reveal the underlying companies of the constituents that are aligned with the overall ESG, a standalone Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Score, and the Carbon Risk Score.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Climate Governance Award recognizes an investment house with apparent board oversight and management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm to governance in climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How the board has laid out the policies and defined clear responsibilities between the board and the management involvement and the risks articulation to include fiduciary duties, risk mitigation, etc.
• How a consensus comes about for board-approved policies, goals, and target setting and how progress is measured and reported
• The strategies and activities for upskilling internal skill sets and expertise, linkage to corporate strategy, and capacity building for senior management to the most junior personnel

BlueOnion* will provide independent Environmental Commitment scores for the funds randomly chosen from the investment firm to assist the jurors with the assessment.

The information will reveal the overall portfolio of the funds chosen and their underlying companies of the constituents of their public pledges to Renewable Energy Usage Target, Sustainability Integration, Air Emissions Reduction, Ensuring Environmental Protection, Biodiversity Protection Targets, Hazardous Waste Reduction, and Water Strategy

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Climate Strategy Award recognizes an investment house with the best strategy to tack actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on both the organization and their investment portfolio levels.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm strategy development in climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How objectives are set to promote stewardship and encourage investees for climate strategy development
• How the managers are capturing green investment opportunities while targeting to reduce the carbon footprint and mitigate exposure to carbon-intensive assets
• How is the process of identifying and mitigating the portfolios' transition and physical risks and the percentages of exposures to both dangers, and the divestment/re-weighting of holdings to reduce exposure to stranded assets
• What impact do the firm's portfolios have on climate change – the 1.5°C or 2.0°C scenario compared to the benchmark?
• What are the firm's scenario analysis and stress testing helping to value the assets at risk

BlueOnion* will provide independent reporting on Carbon Exposures for the funds randomly chosen from the investment firm to assist the jurors with the assessment.

The information will reveal the overall portfolio of the funds chosen and their underlying companies of the constituents of their exposures in Stranded Assets, Country Risk, Carbon Footprint, Scope 1&2 emissions, water withdrawal and toxic waste production, and the Temperature Alignment of 1.5°C or 2.0°C scenario.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

Eligibility:

To enter, the fund best exemplifies your capability must:

>  have a minimum 1-year track record

>  provide the oldest share class fund as best exemplifies

>  have an ISIN code

>  provide prospectus or fact sheet

You can submit more than one fund to each category by entering the fund into a separate entry. The strategies presented do not have to be authorized funds in the jurisdiction of competition. It can be a UCITS, SICAV, etc..…

3 Steps to the Title:

Step 1: – Decide which investment strategies you would like to put forward. 

Step 2: – Fill out the Multiple Choice Questionnaire for each entered category. Due to increasing entries yearly, we can no longer offer each fund an opportunity to the Gatekeeper Forum. To present the best of the best in front of the judges, candidates who have met the qualifying threshold will be shortlisted to enter the Gatekeeper Forum. These shortlisted candidates are determined by the quality of the answers provided in the questionnaire.

Step 3: – Attend The Gatekeeper Forum, where judges will rate their interviews with the PM/CIO based on the criteria specified for each type of award. This is a subjective process, and the judges will be provided with the submissions, the independent financial performance reporting provided by Morningstar, and the sustainability performance by BlueOnion. The forum is highly curated, and only the PM, CIO, or Product Specialists are invited to meet the Senior Gatekeepers in person. During the 30-minute session, 3-5 jurors will ask in-depth questions along the five critical pillars to further understand team practices.  Jurors signed up/assigned to a particular peer group will score based on their experience with the fund house and team and the evidence presented. 

Other Rules:
Submitting Materials for Multiple Regions – If you are entering the same category for more than one region, you may use the same information, documents, and flagship fund across all the areas. For example, you've entered your global fixed-income strategy for Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. You may use the same information for all three regions.  You would still need to complete the submission for each region separately.  Submit all the answers and documents for the 1st region, then simply input the related submission ID for the other regions.

Submitting Materials for Multiple Strategies – Separate groups of jurors will evaluate different product types, so please make sure there is one submission per strategy. Please submit separate entries for each system, except Pillar 5-Corporate Strength (only need to submit this once for all entries). DO NOT send one request to represent different strategies.

Merging Categories – To ensure the quality of the awards, categories with less than three funds participating may be incorporated into a larger category of the same kind without prior notice.

Our impact thematic categories for passive strategies are targeted at positively impacting the world while making respectable risk-adjusted returns. Judges will look for your competitive proposition on the impact investment negative and positive impact, the progress towards achieving those goals, the scale of the investments vs. the impact terms created, and how the effect contributes to society/economy-wide solutions.

Categories for 2023:

1. Alternative Energy
2. Carbon Reduction
3. Circular Economy
4. Ecosystem Regeneration
5. Energy Transition
6. Environmental Impact
7. Food and Nutrition
8. GSS Bond
9. Natural Resources
10. Regenerative Agriculture
11. Social Impact
12. Sustainable Living
13. Sustainable Planet/World
14. Waste management
15. Water Focused

An independent ESG and key sustainability metrics report of the funds submitted by the candidates will be drawn from BlueOnion* to demonstrate the walking the talks of the ETF providers' ESG scoring, Risk ranking and rating, as well as the Paris Agreement's Temperature alignment against their peers. You can enter more than one fund for each category by registering under a separate entry.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 73 countries.

www.blueonion.today

Judging:
Judges will also evaluate the fund based on the alignment level with the EU's SFDR Article 9 regulatory technical standard for sustainable impact. An independent ESG and key sustainability metrics report of the funds submitted by the candidates will be drawn from BlueOnion* to demonstrate the walking the talks of the funds' ESG scoring, Risk ranking, and rating, as well as the Paris Agreement's Temperature alignment against their peers. You can enter more than one fund for each category by registering under a separate entry.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The ESG Integration Award recognizes investment management companies that demonstrate commitments to integrate ESG into their investment decision-making throughout the investment process for the entire suites of their products, investment activities and reinforces ESG’s role in Long-Term Value Creation.

Judges will be looking for qualities in:

1. the systematic approach: innovative approaches to applying environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis to the funds being managed across the board, despite the sectors, countries, and asset classes
2. the team buy-in and implementation: how multiple teams come to a consensus for the performance across the board
3. disclosure: disclosed policies and procedures for integrating ESG information and metrics into the investment process communicated to investee companies
4. execution: resources, constraints, and timeline management
5. outcomes: How are results measured the key learnings from this approach

Multiple funds of the candidates will be drawn randomly from BlueOnion to demonstrate the walking the talks of the fund houses’ ESG, GC, and Temperature performances against their peers.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark’s disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

Many ETF providers provide excuses for not exercising proper stewardship owing to the nature of being “passive". This award recognizes ETF providers for putting the welfare of the beneficiaries at the forefront, and those who believe in Passive Managers having an Active Voice – who practice responsible Investing and active ownership and integrate ESG into their ownership policies and practices while driving positive real-world goals. Apart from illustrating their collaborative engagement initiatives with the investees, they prioritize outcomes at the society/economy-wide scales, such as addressing climate change and corruption, rather than purely focusing on pure risks and returns of the holdings in the portfolio.

Judges will be looking for qualities in:

• the foundation of the practical stewardship principles
• ongoing development and implementation of the stewardship policies
• monitoring and assessment techniques of investee companies
• the collaboration goals and engagement principles with investee companies and investors
• how voting rights are exercised
• how ESG is promoted as long-term value creation
• level of transparency, disclosure, and reporting

Multiple funds of the candidates will be drawn randomly from BlueOnion to demonstrate the walking the talks of the fund houses’ ESG, GC, and Temperature performances against their peers.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Transparency Award recognizes ETF Issuers that demonstrate commitment to disclosing the firm's and their investment portfolios' climate-related financial risks and how their existing processes support their investment decisions.

Judges will be looking for qualities in the:

• TCFD Report from the last reporting cycle
• Additional voluntary disclosures beyond regulatory requirement
• Percentage of companies in the constituents that are aligned with the disclosures of the four pillars and 11 topics and their qualities of disclosure
• Policies and procedures disclosed for strategies tackling physical and transition risks described in the reporting, and the goals and metrics set for achievement

Judges will also evaluate the house based on the level of disclosure under the TCFD guideline of the four pillars of Governance, Strategy, Goals & Metrics, and Risk Management, and the other 11 metrics associated with the four pillars.

* BlueOnion will provide an independent TCFD alignment report for the fund to assist the jurors with the assessment. The information will reveal the underlying companies of the constituents that are aligned with the disclosure requirement based on five levels: Basic, Foundation, Core, Enhanced, and Unaligned.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Climate Risk Management Award recognizes ETF Issuers that identify, assess, and manages climate-related risks as part of the core risk management protocol.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm to manage climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How the manager engages with the investees to set climate-risk metrics and encourage sustainable practices in their operations, and the same goes for fixed-income houses, their collaborative and collective engagement
• How the manager's risk management teams integrate traditional investment processes to monitor counterparty and credit risks
• How the team uses carbon-related and climate risk metrics to enable a deeper financial analysis of potential risks during security selection
• What are the metrics being used for risk mitigation?
• The paths the manager has taken before divestment and the stakeholder's protection.

* BlueOnion will provide independent Risk Scores for the funds managed by the manager randomly chosen to assist the jurors with the assessment. The information will reveal the underlying companies of the constituents that are aligned with the overall ESG, a standalone Environmental, Social, and Governance Risk Score, and the Carbon Risk Score.

* BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

www.blueonion.today

The Climate Governance Award recognizes ETF Issuers with apparent board oversight and management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm to governance in climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How the board has laid out the policies and defined clear responsibilities between the board and the management involvement and the risks articulation to include fiduciary duties, risk mitigation, etc.
• How a consensus comes about for board-approved policies, goals, and target setting and how progress is measured and reported
• The strategies and activities for upskilling internal skill sets and expertise, linkage to corporate strategy, and capacity building for senior management to the most junior personnel

* BlueOnion will provide independent Environmental Commitment scores for the funds randomly chosen from the investment firm to assist the jurors with the assessment.

The information will reveal the overall portfolio of the funds chosen and their underlying companies of the constituents of their public pledges to Renewable Energy Usage Target, Sustainability Integration, Air Emissions Reduction, Ensuring Environmental Protection, Biodiversity Protection Targets, Hazardous Waste Reduction, and Water Strategy

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.

The Climate Strategy Award recognizes ETF Issuers with the best strategy to tack actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on both the organization and their investment portfolio levels.

Judges will be looking at the approaches of the firm strategy development in climate-related risks and opportunities:

• How objectives are set to promote stewardship and encourage investees for climate strategy development
• How the managers are capturing green investment opportunities while targeting to reduce the carbon footprint and mitigate exposure to carbon-intensive assets
• How is the process of identifying and mitigating the portfolios' transition and physical risks and the percentages of exposures to both dangers, and the divestment/re-weighting of holdings to reduce exposure to stranded assets
• What impact do the firm's portfolios have on climate change – the 1.5°C or 2.0°C scenario compared to the benchmark?
• What are the firm's scenario analysis and stress testing helping to value the assets at risk

* BlueOnion will provide independent reporting on Carbon Exposures for the funds randomly chosen from the investment firm to assist the jurors with the assessment.

The information will reveal the overall portfolio of the funds chosen and their underlying companies of the constituents of their exposures in Stranded Assets, Country Risk, Carbon Footprint, Scope 1&2 emissions, water withdrawal and toxic waste production, and the Temperature Alignment of 1.5°C or 2.0°C scenario.

*BlueOnion is Benchmark's disruptive fund research platform hosting over 290,000 funds with sustainability data, including ESG, Global Compact (GC), and Temperature Score in 67 countries.