Fund Complex: Northern Funds
Management Company: Northern Trust Investments, Inc. (NTI), a subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation
Funds Affected: (1) Northern Global Sustainability Index Fund, (2) Northern U.S. Quality ESG Fund
Sustainable Investing Strategy: (1) ESG Integration, (2) Exclusions, thematic-like consideration (low carbon) and ESG integration
Summary:
(1) The fund is passively managed with the aim of replicating the investment composition and performance of the MSCI World ESG Index. The index holds a broad, diversified set of global companies, selected based on regional sector rankings of environmental, social and governance performance. The MSCI World ESG Index includes the highest-ranked companies in each regional sector based on environmental, social and governance screening and research criteria applied by the index provider. Rankings are based on qualitative and quantitative analysis.
The MSCI World ESG Index has no automatic industry exclusions. For companies involved in alcohol, gambling, firearms, nuclear power, tobacco and weapons manufacturing, the index provider conducts case-by-case evaluations to determine MSCI World ESG Index inclusion/exclusion eligibility. The index provider analyzes companies involved in alcohol and gambling to determine how and to what extent their commercial activities contribute to social problems caused by gambling and alcohol abuse. The index provider analyzes companies involved in nuclear power generation to determine how and to what extent their commercial activities promulgate risks associated with nuclear power production, plant safety, security and waste disposal. The index provider evaluates tobacco manufacturers in the context of the social problems associated with tobacco including addiction, second-hand smoke and the negative external costs tied to tobacco-related illness. It weighs heavily the large negative impact on society of tobacco products when evaluating a tobacco manufacturer’s overall sustainability performance. The index provider evaluates military weapons contractors and firearms companies in terms of the types of weapons they produce or for which they supply components. The index provider also considers their role in the global arms trade, contribution to global weapons proliferation and lobbying and contracting practices.
(2) The fund invests in equity securities of large and mid-capitalization U.S. companies that the investment adviser believes have favorable environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics under a third-party vendor’s rating methodology. Using a quantitative, factor based approach, the fund intends to invest in companies that: (i) meet certain criteria for ESG factors as provided by a third-party research vendor; (ii) exhibit strong business fundamentals, solid management and reliable cash flows; and (iii) are located, headquartered in, incorporated in or otherwise organized in the United States.
The fund is managed according to a quantitative model developed by Northern Trust Investments, Inc. (NTI). To define an investable universe, NTI excludes securities of companies involved in ESG controversies or those that violate global norms like the United Nations Global Compact. NTI also removes companies that do a poor job of managing their ESG risks and opportunities relative to their peers as well as those with material involvement in controversial business practices, including, but not limited to, tobacco and civilian firearms.
NTI engages a third-party research vendor to provide ESG data for U.S. companies. The third-party vendor identifies ESG areas of risk and opportunity, evaluates exposure and management, and ranks and rates companies against their industry peers.
After defining the investable universe, NTI evaluates the quality of the remaining securities and removes those securities that do not meet the proprietary quality methodology. NTI’s quality methodology rates securities based on three categories of financial signals (profitability, management efficiency, and cash generation).
The fund is constructed based on an optimization methodology designed to take active exposure by overweighting and underweighting securities based on their ESG and relative financial quality rankings. NTI also performs a risk management analysis in which risk exposures are measured and managed on the security, sector and portfolio levels. NTI makes final purchase decisions based on the quantitative model described above and on a desired level of diversification. The fund will normally sell a security that NTI believes is no longer attractive based upon the evaluation criteria described above. As part of the optimization approach, risks such as sector and style tilt are managed. Further, the carbon footprint of the portfolio is reduced relative to the companies in the benchmark Russell 1000 Index.
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