As part of Tribe’s commitment to achieving positive change, they have created their own impact vehicle which will invest in and/or provide grants to high impact, scalable, mission-driven organizations. They have locked 20% of their profits into their mission and model to invest in their own impact story. “We passionately believe in authenticity and innovation. This profit allocation model allows us to partner our own capital with like-minded people, partners and programmes around the world to drive the change we want to see.”
By understanding the market cap of businesses in MSCI they calculate total carbon per £1 million invested to establish a ‘carbon ceiling’. Assuming £1 million invested equally across MSCI ACWI current absolute carbon generated would be 183.6 tonnes. To be 1.5 °C aligned it needs to be 82.6 tonnes by 2030. Aggregating all of Tribe’s investment for 2018, as of April 1st 2019, £1 million invested in Tribe currently generates 85.2 tonnes. This value is being set as a 2019 baseline for their investment activity. Carbon equivalent footprints are highlighted alongside financial performance in their Impact Report.
They do not yet have complete carbon data coverage, 56% of assets under management are currently covered. They acknowledge data coverage is an ongoing challenge faced by many in finance and that the methodology outlined in their Impact Report is overly simple. Accordingly, they have signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative to ensure that they can work with and inform a universal methodology for the financial services industry on the measurement of carbon and other greenhouse gases. “Given the assumptions and the caveats outlined in the Report, we want to share the news that Tribe is supporting the delivery of the Paris Climate Accord at a 1.5 °C scenario. It’s a powerful showcase of what is possible when you challenge the status quo and lead with mission. But this is not enough. We must go below the 1.5 °C scenario. We are committed to doing this.”
Tribe also act on their own impacts; “In declaring our Climate Emergency and releasing our Impact Report, we are holding ourselves to be Net Zero across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2025. This is significant for a wealth manager, even one such as ourselves, but we are resolutely committed to running our business responsibly and delivering our mission as an impact wealth manager. As we grow as a business we will continue to reduce, manage and offset all measurable carbon emissions at Tribe. We are calling on other asset and wealth managers to follow our lead.” They have not flown long haul and are mindful of short haul where they try to use the lowest carbon emitting fleet/airline and offset using Climate Care. All travel is weighed up against the impact they can achieve. All new clients have a tree planted with the Woodland Trust when they join, and all Tribalists (employees and partners) have a tree planted every year for their birthdays.
Tribe believe in deeply engaging with the personal values of their customers so that their wealth becomes an extension of who they are. Through their impact assessment and reporting, customers can track the performance of their Tribe portfolio. They take time to understand an individual’s core values and beliefs and work these around the UN SDG framework to build an individual’s ImpactDNA™. They then thread each individual’s ImpactDNA™ through their portfolio, to ensure that the investment capital they commit achieves both positive impact in the areas that they are truly passionate about and financial returns. Key to this approach are impact lenses.
An impact lens is an investment strategy focusing on a specific impact area, for example, gender lens investing is the practice of investing for financial return while also considering the benefits to women. This can include funding women-owned businesses, businesses with a strong track record of employing women, or companies that improve the lives of women and girls with their products and services. Other impact lenses include poverty alleviation, building community wealth or combating climate change.
