Food for Thought | ESG Investor

This ESG Investor feature by Emmy Hawker outlines the investment case for nutrition and health and highlights how investor interest in healthy diets is rising.

A study by management consultancy McKinsey & Company estimated that better health could add US$12 trillion to global GDP by 2040 – this could provide additional motivation to investors to allocate capital to investments aligned with the SDGs, and more specifically SDG2 Zero Hunger and SDG3 Health and Well-being. This article includes mentions of relevant investor coalitions and frameworks specifically aimed at tackling food systems challenges, including the group of ATNI Investor Signatories.

“The Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) has developed and published Investor Expectations on Nutrition, Diets and Health in consultation with institutional investors. These are designed to spur greater investor engagement with companies on global nutritional and health challenges and their relevant contributions to the SDGs. They include companies assigning board responsibility for implementing the nutrition strategy and linking executive remuneration to health-related targets.

Last year, 53 institutional investor members of ATNI, managing US$12.4 trillion in assets, pledged to tackle global nutrition challenges and called on food and beverage companies to prioritise better nutrition outcomes. They will be engaging with the 20 listed companies in the ATNI Global Index, such as consumer goods company Unilever. The investor coalition, including PIMCO and UBS Asset Management, has further called on policymakers to use regulatory measures to better support the nutrition targets laid out by the World Health Organisation.

Engagement continues to be a powerful tool for investors across a range of food system risks.”