Foundation Credit believes that ESG factors will be a critical driver of value creation, positive results and alignment of interests across our clients, our employees, our communities and our investment strategies. We are, first and foremost, fiduciaries with the obligation to act in the best interest of our investors’ capital. As part of keeping their best interests in mind, we need to be sensitive to ESG factors so that we are mindful of building sustainable portfolios. Through direct dialogue, diligent research and dispassionate evaluation, we believe we can add to financial returns - as opposed to diluting them - in the pursuit of positive outcomes. We also believe that we can facilitate adoption and measurement of ESG factors across the markets in which we participate.
The firm believes that our focus on the municipal credit and infrastructure debt markets provides an exceptional opportunity to deliver positive ESG factors and absolute, risk adjusted returns to our clients.
Municipal and infrastructure investing naturally fit within an ESG framework, as our investment activity ultimately finances the delivery of essential government services and development of public infrastructure - the foundation for the economic growth, civic engagement and access to opportunity that enable local communities to thrive. Given the mission-driven purpose of most municipal borrowers, we believe that naturally associated ESG factors are highly correlated and pro-cyclical with resilient financial outcomes.
In conjunction with our investing approach, we believe that maintaining a reputation for integrity, ethical behavior and excellence is critical to the collaborative culture and positive working environment required for our team to the meet the high standards of care demanded by our clients, many of whom are themselves fiduciaries. We have established an industrial-grade governance framework to ensure that the firm’s operations consistently meet that obligation, which increasingly includes considering ESG factors.
To clearly signal and guide our actions, we have formalized several initiatives which intentionally integrate ESG considerations into our investing practices within the broader US infrastructure debt and public finance markets. We expect that this process will generate long term economic value for our clients and result in real and positive changes.
We are committed to evaluating ESG factors employing a multi-dimensional approach consisting of quantitative, qualitative and policy level assessments. Specifically, we have adopted the following to ensure a thorough incorporation of ESG factors: