PIMCO is committed to the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") factors into our broad research process and engaging with issuers on sustainability factors and our climate change investment analysis. At PIMCO, we define ESG integration as the consistent consideration of material ESG factors into our investment research process with the goal of enhancing our clients’ risk-adjusted returns. Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to: climate change risks, resource efficiency, natural capital, human capital management, human rights, regulatory risks, and reputation risk at an issuer. Further information is available in PIMCO’s Sustainable Investment Policy Statement.
With respect to comingled funds with sustainability strategies and guidelines (“funds that follow sustainability strategies and guidelines”), we have built on PIMCO’s over 50-year core investment processes, while actively incorporating sustainability principles. Through these guiding principles—excluding issuers fundamentally misaligned with sustainability factors, evaluating issuers using proprietary and independent ESG scoring (in addition to externally sourced and internally developed criteria), and engaging with issuers on ESG-related topics with the objective of improving investment outcomes - funds that follow sustainability strategies and guidelines seek to deliver attractive returns while also pursing to provide a vehicle through which investors can meet their sustainability preferences. Please see each fund that follows sustainability strategies and guidelines prospectus for more detailed information related to its investment objectives, investment strategies and approach to ESG.
ESG investing is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the factors utilized by PIMCO or any judgment exercised by PIMCO will reflect the opinions of any particular investor, and the factors utilized by PIMCO may differ from the factors that any particular investor considers relevant in evaluating an issuer’s ESG practices. In evaluating an issuer, PIMCO is dependent upon information and data obtained through voluntary or third-party reporting that may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable, or present conflicting information and data with respect to an issuer, which in each case could cause PIMCO to incorrectly assess an issuer’s business practices with respect to its ESG practices. Socially responsible norms differ by region, and an issuer’s ESG practices or PIMCO’s assessment of an issuer’s ESG practices may change over time. There is no standardized industry definition or certification for certain ESG categories, for example “green bonds”; as such, the inclusion of securities in these statistics involves PIMCO’s subjectivity and discretion. There is no assurance that the ESG investing strategy or techniques employed will be successful. Past performance is not a guarantee or reliable indicator of future results.
