Schroders is launching a global equity portfolio that invests in companies driving the transition to more sustainable food and water.
The Schroder ISF Global Sustainable Food and Water fund, managed by Mark Lacey, Felix Odey and Alex Monk, will target emerging technologies and industries innovating food and water systems.
Key sectors may include water management, food production and processing, distribution and recycling.
The portfolio of 35-60 stocks will focus on companies actively contributing to making food and water more sustainable.
“Our current food and water system is untenable and will experience an unprecedented confluence of pressures over the next 30 years. By 2050 the world will need to produce 70% more food and drinking water, whilst producing less carbon and using 70% fewer resources,” said Lacey.
“Regulation, consumer behaviour, and new technology are changing fast.These are now starting to impact the long overdue change that is required to make the whole system less carbon intensive, wasteful and polluting, whilst improving biodiversity and encouraging healthier diets globally. Current estimates suggest this structural shift will require at least $30 trillion of capital reallocation by 2050,” he added.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has estimated that the population will need to produce more food in the next four decades than it has in the entire 8,000 years of human history in order to produce enough food for the growing population.
As it stands, global food and water systems are not sustainable from a carbon, biodiversity, physical waste, or health perspective.
Hannah Simmons, head of sustainability strategy at Schroders, added: “Solving the global sustainability challenges we face requires a huge reorientation of capital. The United Nations suggests that there is a gap of between $5-$7 trillion dollars a year that needs to be invested in new technologies, companies and industries to meet their Sustainable Development Goals which are a ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”
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