We believe that we have a fundamental responsibility to society as a company and as an investor. We base our approach to corporate social responsibility on the UN Guidelines on Human Rights and Business and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
The UN Guidelines on Human Rights and Business and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises specify how Vaekstfonden and other companies must continuously deal with negative impacts in areas such as human rights, labor rights, the environment and anti-corruption. As a financing partner for many companies, we recognise and report to PRI - Principles For Responsible Investment - and we encourage our fund managers to follow. PRI is an international association of investors working to implement concrete principles for sustainable investment. Vaekstfonden is also a member of the UN initiative Global Compact, with 10 general principles for companies' work with social responsibility.
We focus our financing activity on small and medium sized companies in Denmark. It is important to Vaekstfonden that the companies and funds we invest in take a stand on the CSR conditions relevant to their activities. We have a great variety of companies and funds in our portfolio and therefore the specific CSR conditions relevant for each are quite individual.
Our approach to CSR as an investor is based on dialogue, information and collaboration. Our action steps:
- We include inquiry about social responsibility in the research we do before deciding whether to provide co-financing.
- We require the companies and funds we co-finance to commit to a CSR policy based on the UN Guiding Principles and the UN Global Compact.
- In the case of companies that we co-own and where we sit on the board with our co-owners, procedural rules require that CSR must be discussed at least once annually at the highest management level. Management procedures also require that the next board meeting must deal with any potential negative impact on sustainable development the relevant companies may cause or be involved with.
- Even good companies can make mistakes. Should a company or fund in our portfolio not live up to the requirements for socially responsible behaviour, we will investigate and, if necessary, utilise our experience and influence to ensure that corrective measures are taken. Our approach to such matters is through constructive dialogue and the sharing of our knowledge and experience in CSR related matters.