Investors: we appreciate ASSA ABLOY’s commitment to sustainability

Emma Englén, Head of Sustainability, Spiltan Fonder

We are impressed by how ASSA ABLOY is working with sustainability. We believe it has a clear strategy and a great team with the right competence to set and drive its agenda. Sustainability is well integrated into all areas at ASSA ABLOY, all the way from production to product innovation as well as in its investment philosophy. From an investor perspective, it’s great to see how sustainability adds value to new products and solutions.

ASSA ABLOY is continuously showing progress and results towards set goals in a very impressive way. We understand that a sustainable business model is a moving target, and the road to get there is far from straight. With that in mind, it is notable how skilled ASSA ABLOY’s sustainability program is.

ASSA ABLOY’s focus areas are well considered and relevant. Its engagement in the Science Based Targets initiative is appreciated as reaching net-zero is also one of our most prioritized areas.

Daniel Rozier, Capital Goods Research Analyst, Lazard

ASSA ABLOY has a broad sustainability strategy under the banner of ESG and clear Science Based Targets on Scope 1 and Scope 2.

Scope 3 is an area we as investors would like to see more focus on, because its Scope 3 emissions are massive compared with Scope 1 and 2. Therefore Scope 3 is where they are really going to make a difference. It is much more difficult than Scope 1 and 2, which are directly under ASSA ABLOY’s control, but it’s good to see them begin to build a strategy for this. We’d like to see a detailed breakdown of Scope 3 emissions, then we can see where the impact is and how realistic the target looks.

Investors are more focused today on understanding diversity of the board and through various levels of management. We also manage a gender diversity strategy so it’s good to see ASSA ABLOY focus on gender diversity and to work towards increasing the proportion of female managers.

It’s great to see ASSA ABLOY tackling the topic of EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities and green revenues. It’s an area of massive complexity, and difficult to know what proportion of revenues is relevant to each classification, but ASSA ABLOY is starting to get a handle on it.

Peter Lööw, Head of Responsible Investment, Alecta

ASSA ABLOY has sustainability high on its agenda and it is integral to everything they do. That’s something we really appreciate.

As a long-term investor, we like the company for many reasons. Sustainability is one factor we consider and ASSA ABLOY scores very highly. Value creation is another aspect that we deem as important. ASSA ABLOY is the perfect fit in that sense.

We really appreciate our dialogue with ASSA ABLOY from a stakeholder engagement perspective. Its strategy is clear in terms of its sustainability targets, and we look forward to seeing how they will implement measures to meet their Science Based Targets. 

This text was first published in the ASSA ABLOY Sustainability report 2021.