Meet our Partners | Bryony Greenhalgh Pathfinder

Navigating the intersection of financial growth and social responsibility, Pathfinder stands out as a KiwiSaver provider dedicated to ethical investing. Unlike traditional models, Pathfinder’s approach is guided by an Ethical Investment Policy that prioritizes avoiding harm, benefiting stakeholders, and addressing global challenges like climate change. Alberts is proud to be partnering with Pathfinder on a series of events to educate and inform Alberts Members on the importance and benefits of ethical investing.

In this interview with Bryony Greenhalgh, we explore how Pathfinder ensures its investments align with its values, balancing profitability with a commitment to a better world.

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Alberts: For those who are not familiar with Pathfinder can you please give us a bit of an introduction to what ethical investing is and why it is different to the standard KiwiSaver model?

Pathfinder: There are 37 KiwiSaver providers and each of them has a different model or investment strategy that you will find on their websites.

An ethical investment model (or strategy), like Pathfinder’s, is where a fund manager chooses their investments, based on an ethical code or principles that align with their values.

For example, our approach at Pathfinder is to use an Ethical Investment Policy set up by our Ethical Investment Committee (more about this below). The process helps guide us on what investments to select and aims to avoid harm, benefit investors and other stakeholders and contribute to climate change solutions.

Perhaps the simplest way to say it is that, at Pathfinder, we invest for the world we want. Not necessarily the one we have.

A: We recently enjoyed an insightful talk with Bryony who came in to discuss all things ethical investing at The Formery. She shared the merits of ethical investing not just for the planet, but from a financial perspective as well. How does Pathfinder ensure its investment strategies align with its values?

P: Pathfinder is about duality; specifically, the balance between returns and clear ethics. We believe that no one should have to choose between an ethical investment and a profitable one. We’re active managers who think carefully about how to drive positive returns, while maximising the ethical impact of our investing.

Avoiding Harm – we want to avoid investing in industries or activities that create significant harm or that transgress our three filters – respecting people, respecting our planet, respecting animals.

ESG and Carbon Metrics – Because there’s sound evidence that companies who address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues perform better and are more resilient than companies who don’t, we consider a company’s ESG score as part of our investment process. We also recognise the significant threat from climate change and strive to invest in a way that’s consistent with a decarbonising world. We also think this makes good financial sense.

Positive Investment Themes – we tilt our portfolios towards companies whose operations align with our financial investment criteria and our key themes that include healthy living, healthy planet, deglobalisation, digitisation and social license.

We recommend looking at the Morningstar KiwiSaver Survey for a comprehensive (though not exhaustive) look at how different KiwiSaver providers perform compared to each other. In the most recent KiwiSaver Survey – March Quarter 2024 – all Pathfinder’s funds rank in the top four (Growth, Balanced and Conservative) for the 3-year period (this is the longest period available on the survey for Pathfinder)

A: How does Pathfinder measure its social and environmental impact?

P: We track, measure and report on all non-financial key metrics in our Sustainability Report.