Lombard Odier Investment Managers is partnering with Affirmative Investment Management (AIM), the fixed income manager dedicated to impact strategies, to supplement its existing impact investing capabilities and launch a new fund designed to help combat climate change in a verifiable way.

Lombard Odier IM and AIM both have a strong heritage of sustainability and impact investing. With over 20 years of responsible investment expertise, Lombard Odier was one of the first institutions to include environmental and social criteria in its financial research, and to offer its clients investment solutions that fully integrate their values.

AIM launched in 2014 as the first fixed income asset manager dedicated to offering strategies that target positive climate and social impact, while seeking to delivering mainstream bond-market risk and return.

The impact of climate change is already being seen and the risks are escalating, affecting not only the world’s economic growth but also the lives of millions of people. We believe tackling climate change requires a significant shift towards a low-carbon economy and investment in climate change solutions.

Carolina Minio-Paluello, Global Head of Sales and Solutions at Lombard Odier IM, comments: “Climate change is the challenge of our generation. There is a significant gap between the current level of investment into climate change solutions, estimated at USD 360 billion in the past year, and the USD700 billion required each year to meet the COP21 objective to limit climate change to two degrees[1]. A major shift in capital is required to tackle this funding gap, and our investors are keen to understand how they can be involved. We are extremely pleased to be partnering with the specialists at AIM and together with our own robust impact investing expertise, we are seeking  to develop a compelling and competitive proposition for investors.”

AIM has a highly experienced team of investment professionals, who are actively involved in the partnership with Lombard Odier IM, including Chairman Stephen Fitzgerald, formerly the CIO International Fixed Income at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and previously a member of the Board of Guardians for Australia’s Future Fund; CEO Stuart Kinnersley, who created the first dedicated Green Bond fund at Nikko AM in 2010; and Head of Sustainability Judith Moore, who originated the criteria for the creation of green bonds while Head of the World Bank’s Corporate Responsibility team.

Stephen Fitzgerald, Co-Founder and Chairman of AIM said: “Responsible capitalism has often been perceived as coming at a cost; either lower returns or increased risk. Our approach seeks to combine mainstream portfolio management and impact, without compromising either. Our partnership with Lombard Odier is an exciting opportunity to finance positive solutions to global challenges.”

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This document has been prepared by Lombard Odier Funds (Europe) S.A. and is issued by Lombard Odier Asset Management (Europe) Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”), and entered on the FCA register with registration number 515393.
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