Sustainability

Disclaimer: This document has been translated directly from nl-NL (Dutch). In the event of any discrepancies between this translation and the original Dutch version, the Dutch version shall prevail.

Your money works. But on what?

Investing is more than a balance on a screen. Behind every euro is a company making something, people working somewhere and choices that shape the world.That is why, with every fund we choose, we look not only at expected return but also at how a fund handles the environment, people and governance.

We do not promise a world we cannot deliver. What we do is be clear about the criteria we apply, and honest about what we do and do not do.

What sustainability means to us

We look at sustainability from two directions.

Risks, from the outside in. Climate change, poor working conditions or weak governance can affect the value of an investment. We factor these ESG risks (Environment, Social, Governance) into our fund selection. Not as a moral judgement, but because it makes your portfolio more robust.

Characteristics, from the inside out. We have no objective for sustainable investments, but we promote social characteristics through the funds we choose. We do this within the framework of the SFDR, the European regulation that enforces transparency around sustainability.

Our four sustainability selection criteria

1. Exclusion

We only invest in funds that apply a structured exclusion policy of their own, where that is possible within the asset category.

2. Best-in-class

We choose funds that stand out on sustainability within their category. The hard minimum:

• At least an MSCI ESG rating of BBB
• At least an SFDR Article 8 classification, with a preference for Article 9

Government bond funds fall outside the SFDR requirement. SFDR classifications do not map well onto them, because sustainability is harder to measure for government bonds than for other categories.

3. Voting and engagement

For equity funds, we invest only if the fund actively exercises its voting rights and pushes companies towards responsible behaviour.

4. Social characteristics

We only invest in funds where less than 0.5% of the portfolio ends up with:

• companies involved in controversial weapons
• companies with substantial revenue from tobacco
• companies in persistent, severe controversies (according to MSCI ESG Controversies)
• companies that violate the UN Global Compact principles

How we measure sustainability

MSCI ESG ratings

An ESG rating measures how well a company handles sustainability risks compared with its sector peers. The scale runs from AAA and AA (leaders) through A, BBB and BB (average) down to B and CCC (laggards). We select only funds rated BBB and up, and aim for the highest score within each segment.

SFDR classification

The SFDR sorts investment products by their sustainability performance: Article 6 (no active integration), Article 8 (takes ESG into account, "light green") and Article 9 (an explicit sustainable objective, "dark green"). Vive itself is classified as an Article 8 product.

Honest about what we do not do

Transparency also means being clear about the limits of our approach.

• We have no objective for a minimum percentage of sustainable investments. Some of the funds we invest in do have one, and exceed it comfortably. At year-end 2025, for example, the share of sustainable investments in Developed Markets Equities stood at more than 54%, against the fund's objective of 8.5%.
• We do not consider the principal adverse impacts of investments on sustainability factors (the PAI indicators) ourselves. This is because we invest in non-listed third-party funds, where we cannot intervene directly at the level of the underlying companies. The underlying funds do limit these impacts through their own exclusion policies.
• None of our criteria steer towards sustainable investments as defined by the EU Taxonomy.

What about returns?

For us, sustainability and returns are not at odds, but we make no promise of outperformance either. What we do is manage sustainability risks, because a company that handles the environment, people or governance poorly is, over time, a more vulnerable company. That strengthens the risk-return profile of your portfolio.

We also keep costs low, diversify broadly across categories and regions, and rebalance continuously so that your portfolio keeps matching your risk profile. Sustainability is one of the axes along which we select funds, alongside liquidity, diversification, low costs and the quality of the fund manager.

For the most complete explanation, please see our sustainability policy.

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