Leaving home teaches you something – Field visit to Asia

My mother likes to say, “leaving home always, always, teaches you something” I realized this many times as a child of course, but the wisdom of it still touches me today. Even within our professional lives in Responsible Investments.

Vast amounts of information, reports, opinions, blogs and online databases in the Internet provide a good place to start to understand the different environmental, social and governance issues that are material for different companies.

The Internet can, however, rarely give enough for a comprehensive and balanced view. This, in our opinion, is essential within responsible investments and can only be achieved by visiting different regions, countries and companies and preferably with their line managers at their production sites.

Antti Savilaakso & Ylva Hannestad are visiting school facilities at a palm oil estate, during a field visit in Indonesia.

We have done many of these fact finding trips earlier and consider them a routine part of the responsible investment business. Every now and then, these routine travels get spiced up, when the delegation is joined by clients who have also noticed the value add of leaving home.

During the following week, Nordea personnel together with a group of different clients will be in Korea and Taiwan to meet companies and experts to help us understand the corporate responsibility and sustainable development for companies operating there.

Hopefully, the trip will be fruitful for the participating clients. I know that it will be for us.