Collaboration and Thought Leadership

In addition to focusing on our own corporate social responsibility, we seek to advocate for system-level change. We support organizations that are using their expertise to lead the way for progress in areas like climate change, diversity and improved sustainability reporting. Our intention in these efforts is to advance sustainability practices, ESG research and related efforts. These efforts also embed sustainability into our corporate culture. By supporting and partnering with these organizations, we aim to create long-term value for our clients and the broader investor community. 

Presented here is a sample of the organizations we partner with, the initiatives we stand behind, and the advocacy letters we wrote or signed during the reporting period.

Breckinridge Shares Thought Leadership with Stakeholders

Breckinridge maintained a commitment to developing and offering insights and perspectives with stakeholders throughout 2022. These efforts were in addition to ongoing monthly and quarterly programs, including our Investment Committee’s monthly and quarterly market commentaries, personalized client reporting, which were enhanced in 2022, our quarterly newsletter focused on ESG and sustainability topics, and industry conference participation. 

At an industry level, we sought to inform our stakeholders of key developments in the advancement of sustainability and ESG objectives. These reports included our support of new accounting standards for greenhouse gas emissions, as well as news about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that focused on the urgent need for climate action among investors and business. In addition, we offered information on our website about Securities and Exchange Commission efforts to improve climate-related reporting, regulatory and legislative efforts to improve ESG disclosures, and the effort to improve global consistency of ESG reporting.

We also provided insights into the development of our own approaches to integrating ESG analysis into our investment process. These efforts included a closer look at credit fundamentals for public schools serving students in kindergarten through grade 12, an updated local government research framework, and the role of climate-smart budgeting as municipalities address ESG risks.

As initiatives related to net zero by 2050 increased during 2022, we shared information about our direct involvement as well as commentary on the broader issue of a global transition to a low-carbon future economy. Those reports included Through Their Transition, Higher Education Endowments and Foundations Lend to Net Zero Trend, Corporations Sign Net Zero Pledge, But Can They Back It Up?, and There’s Nothing Passive about Net Zero in Fixed Income.

During 2022, questions increased in some quarters as to the efficacy of ESG analysis and its materiality, we weighed in with our perspectives. In a report on our website and in a letter to the editor of The Wall Street Journal from Breckinridge President Peter Coffin we reasserted our confidence in a systematic approach that integrates ESG analysis with fundamental research. 

In addition, we maintained that when grounded in materiality and investment-relevance, the addition of ESG research can provide a more holistic view of potential long-term risks and costs, shifting the sightlines of investors a little further out on the horizon beyond short-term considerations.

Breckinridge published our 2022 ESG issuer engagement report in February 2023. Titled Wider Engagement Lens Deepens Examination of Material ESG Risks, the report is an in-depth review of issuer engagement efforts across corporate and municipal bond markets, reporting in detail on the work of our research analysts directly with bond issuers and industry experts on material topics related to ESG and sustainability. 

During 2022, Breckinridge employees were quoted in various investment and ESG-related articles in major news outlets such as Bloomberg, The Bond Buyer, Environmental Finance, FundFire, Impact Alpha, International Financing Review, Institutional Investor, MarketWatch, and The Wall Street Journal, for example.