Former Greenpeace campaigner Eugenie Mathieu is to be one of a team of experts helping to run two new ESG funds being launched by Aviva Investors in an expansion of its range.

Ms Mathieu is impact analyst - earth pillar lead at Aviva Investors where she has worked since 2017.

She was a part of environmental campaign group Greenpeace International’s Forests team, working on deforestation problems driven by palm oil, pulp and paper, cattle and soy.

The Oxford graduate joined the investment industry in 2001 as a sustainability consultant advising major companies.

She will work on two new Aviva Investors funds designed to have a positive social and environmental impact and provide long-term capital growth. One of the funds will aim to tackle deforestation among other environmental issues.

The new funds are the Social Transition Global Equity Fund and the Natural Capital Transition Global Equity Fund. The funds are part of an expansion of ESG funds at Aviva.

Portfolio managers Julie Zhuang and Jonathan Toub and Ms Mathieu will manage the Natural Capital Transition Fund. The Social Transition Fund will be managed by portfolio managers Richard Saldanha and Matt Kirby and senior impact analyst Vaidehee Sachdev. Ms Zhuang joined Aviva Investors in 2020 from UBS and Mr Toub joined four years ago from Standard Life Investments. 

Ms Sachdev began her career in 2013 and has focused on advocating for the human rights of workers and marginalised communities. Mr Saldanha has been with Aviva Investors for 14 years, managing a range of global equity portfolios. Mr Kirby has been with the firm since 2017. 

The two new funds are the latest to be added to the Aviva Investors Sustainable Transition range, which the fund manager says is underpinned by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

They follow the Climate Transition Global Equities, European Equities, Global Credit and Real Assets Funds, which aim to support and accelerate the transition to ‘net zero.’ 

Aviva says active ownership and macro stewardship are key parts of the strategy to drive change by engaging with companies in the funds and with policymakers to reform markets. 

The Social Transition Fund will select investments that are changing their business models to respect human rights, promote decent working conditions and engage in responsible corporate behaviour. The fund will also invest in companies that help improve access to education and health and wider financial inclusion. Businesses in breach of established social principles, or those involved in “severe social controversies”, will be excluded. The fund will also donate 5bps of its management fee to social impact projects. 

The Natural Capital Transition Fund will invest in companies that are transitioning their business models towards sustainable land, sustainable oceans, the circular economy and tackling climate change. It will exclude firms involved in certain “harmful activities or severe environmental controversies.” 

The launch coincides with the publication of Aviva’s biodiversity policy, which includes the commitment to use best efforts via engagement and stewardship to eliminate deforestation activities at the companies in the group’s investment portfolio and financing activities by 2025.