PA Key Transition Metals

Metals play a crucial role in the clean energy transition. Unsurprisingly, growth in low-carbon technologies such as rechargeable batteries lead to a growth in demand for their raw material components. Metals such as cobalt, nickel, and lithium are essential components in many current and developing battery technologies.

However, these key metals are often sourced from environmentally and socially sensitive regions such as South American mountainous deserts, arctic regions in Russia, or the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) or Pacific islands’ tropical biomes. If not well managed, the often resource and pollution-intensive nature of large-scale industrial mining may exacerbate social and environmental challenges where they are mined.

Consequentially, growth of low-carbon technologies may be associated with not just metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium but also a variety of key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.

Avoidance of the metals sector altogether may mean missing out on an area of future growth driven by the energy transition. This product offers exposure to key transition metals mining companies while ensuring an ESG compliant equity selection. Our ESG strategy is active which means we continuously adapt to maturing standards in ESG research.

• Decarbonization
  Increasing demand for low-carbon technologies such as rechargeable batteries would lead to a growth in demand for their raw material components.

• ESG
  The Metals&Minings Sector naturally exhibits elevated ESG risks. This product seeks to minimize these risks.

• Impact
  This investment will allocate money to ESG-compliant firms that engage in the sourcing of key metals needed for the transition to low carbon economy.

• Diversification
  Our product offers the opportunity for portfolio diversification through indirect exposure to metals prices.

• Returns
  Our product offers exposure to 25 companies of the MSCI Metals & Minings Index while attempting to achieve higher risk-adjusted returns.

• Risk
  Our product minimises risk compared to other products in this space.

The Picard Angst ESG+ Equity Key Transition Metals note pursues a strategy that minimizes investment & ESG risk compared to other products in this space. It offers diversification for investors through its indirect exposure to metals prices that typically only weakly correlate with the broader equity market. In the last 5 years, this strategy has offered significantly higher risk-adjusted returns than relevant benchmarks.