Super done differently.
How we invest
The super industry’s purpose is to invest and grow Australia’s retirement savings. But super funds have consistently invested money in harmful industries like fossil fuels that have set us on a path towards climate change.
Future Super believes there is a better way to invest super for your future. We invest for your financial future and for the quality of your future as you save for retirement.
Our mission
To grow retirement savings by investing in a future free from climate change and inequality.
Our impact
We define impact according to our mission: as meaningful systems change leading to a prosperous future free from climate change and inequality. Every dollar invested with Future Super contributes toward impact by influencing the flow of capital enabling our engagement with companies. Additionally, our impact investments make a significant contribution to our mission in their own right.
Our approach
Our approach to managing our member’ superannuation is guided by the philosophy that:
- It’s important to protect our members from the stranded asset risk of fossil fuels
- Companies and assets with superior environmental, social and governance (aka ESG) performance are more likely to provide better long term returns at a lower level of risk
- Investing in assets that build a fairer, renewable energy powered future can help us achieve financial outperformance for our members
- We can honour the trust our members place in us by using all of the tools at our disposal as investors to safeguard their future
This philosophy informs our approach to investing. This includes:
- Ensuring our portfolios are 100% fossil fuel free across all asset classes (categories of investment). Not just removing direct fossil fuel exposures, but also the companies and assets that are significantly exposed to the fossil fuel industry
- Investing as broadly as possible in the companies and assets that pass our negative screens, including companies or assets that are ethically ‘neutral’, so that we have a better likelihood of capturing ESG outperformance at a lower level of risk
- Using all of the levers available to us as investors to help build a liveable planet. This includes actively engaging our investees and industry on important issues, voting our shares according to our ethical mandate, divesting and excluding unethical companies, and directing capital toward companies and assets that are making the world a better place
What's In and What's Out
We exclude
Investments with harmful impacts on people and the planet.
- Fossil fuels
- Destruction of valuable environments
- Labour rights concerns
- Gambling
- Lack of board diversity
- Detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons
- Weapons
- Animal cruelty
- Tobacco
- Uranium mining and nuclear energy
- Alcohol
- Junk food
- Payday lending (Australia only)
- Chemicals of concern
- Pornography
- Fossil fuels
- Destruction of valuable environments
- Labour rights concerns
- Gambling
- Lack of board diversity
- Detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons
- Weapons
- Animal cruelty
- Tobacco
- Uranium mining and nuclear energy
- Alcohol
- Junk food
- Payday lending (Australia only)
- Chemicals of concern
- Pornography
- Fossil fuels
- Destruction of valuable environments
- Labour rights concerns
- Gambling
- Lack of board diversity
- Detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons
- Weapons
- Animal cruelty
- Tobacco
- Uranium mining and nuclear energy
- Alcohol
- Junk food
- Payday lending (Australia only)
- Chemicals of concern
- Pornography
- Fossil fuels
- Destruction of valuable environments
- Labour rights concerns
- Gambling
- Lack of board diversity
- Detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons
- Weapons
- Animal cruelty
- Tobacco
- Uranium mining and nuclear energy
- Alcohol
- Junk food
- Payday lending (Australia only)
- Chemicals of concern
- Pornography
We seek
Ethical investments creating a better future.
- Clean energy
- Speciality housing
- Recycling and waste
- Social impact
- Healthcare
- Sustainable agriculture
- Preservation of biodiversity
- Clean energy
- Speciality housing
- Recycling and waste
- Social impact
- Healthcare
- Sustainable agriculture
- Preservation of biodiversity
- Clean energy
- Speciality housing
- Recycling and waste
- Social impact
- Healthcare
- Sustainable agriculture
- Preservation of biodiversity
- Clean energy
- Speciality housing
- Recycling and waste
- Social impact
- Healthcare
- Sustainable agriculture
- Preservation of biodiversity
How we exclude investments
We have industry-leading ethical screens to help exclude harm from your super. Investments must pass every screen to be included. This means they don’t work against our mission.
Explore to see how we screen and which companies fail our criteria.
Swipe and tap to see other ethical screens in action
Tap another item to see its ethical screens in action
Fossil fuels
are screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company have direct fossil fuel reserves or mines and extracts fossil fuels?
Failing examples include...
- BHP Billiton
- Woodside Petroleum (fracking)
Does the company own or operate fossil fuel power generators?
Failing examples include...
- Origin Energy
- AGL (burning)
Does the company provide specific and significant services to the fossil fuel industry including engineering, financing, transport, or logistics?
Failing examples include...
- Westpac
- Commonwealth Bank
- NAB
- ANZ (financing), Aurizon (rail transport)
Destruction of valuable environments
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company’s operations have a direct negative impact on recognised UNESCO World Heritage areas or High Conservation areas?
Failing examples include...
- JBS (deforestation)
Labour rights concerns
are screened for via the following criteria...
Is there credible evidence of the company continuously and directly violating labour rights (including child labour, forced labour, unsafe working conditions and pattern of corruption)?
Failing examples include...
- Under Armour
Has the company taken swift and appropriate action when alerted to reports of labour exploitation in their business or supply chain?
Failing examples include...
- Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (did not address ASPI report on slave labour in China’s Xinjiang region)
Gambling
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company own casinos or manufacture gaming products?
Failing examples include...
- Woolworths
- Aristocrat Leisure (ownership of poker machines and casinos)
Does the company provide significant and specific services to the gambling industry? (eg. distribution and payment services)
Failing examples include...
- Fidelity National Information Services (payment services)
Lack of board diversity
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the listed company have at least one woman at board or the equivalent level?
Failing examples include...
- Fluence
- Necon Co
Detention of asylum seekers and for-profit prisons
are screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company own or provide significant and specific services to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, such as the provision of security, infrastructure, or transportation of asylum seekers?
Failing examples include...
- Broadspectrum
Does the company own for-profit prisons?
Failing examples include...
- GEO Group (prison and detention centre operator)
- Serco (prison and detention centre operator)
Weapons
are screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company manufacture, produce, or engineer weapons or armaments?
Failing examples include...
- General Dynamics
- Lockheed Martin
- Northrop Grumman
Does the company provide specific and significant services to military and armaments manufacturing?
Failing examples include...
- SpeedCast (satellite communications)
Animal cruelty
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company intensively farm for animal protein?
Failing examples include...
- Inghams
Is the company directly involved in the live animal export industry?
Failing examples include...
- Elders
Does the company conduct animal testing for cosmetic purposes?
Failing examples include...
- L’Oreal
Does the company produce or use controversial animal products (e.g foie gras, ivory)?
Failing examples include...
- Burberry Group
Future Super recognises that animal agriculture is a major driver of climate change. However, when it comes to agriculture and food supply chains, we consider our members’ consumption habits and the current lack of comparable alternative options for feeding our population. The complexity of this situation means we don't take the approach of divesting from all animal agriculture, only from companies that fail our animal cruelty screen. However, we do use our power as a fund manager to advocate for companies to manage animal welfare and climate risks in a meaningful way. See: Caer Report: Climate Change, Superannuation and Millennials, sponsored by Future Super.
Tobacco
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company produce or manufacture tobacco or tobacco products?
Failing examples include...
- Marlborough
Does the company provide significant services (including retail sale) to the tobacco industry?
Failing examples include...
- Amcor (packaging)
Uranium mining and nuclear energy
are screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company mine uranium?
Failing examples include...
- Paladin Energy
Does the company produce nuclear energy or provide specific and significant services to the nuclear energy industry?
Failing examples include...
- Electricite de France S.A.
Alcohol
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company derive significant revenue from the production, distribution, or sale of alcohol?
Failing examples include...
- United Malt Group
- Metcash (wholesale distribution)
Junk food
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company manufacture, distribute or sell foods that have high fat, salt, sugar and oil content without providing nutritional value?
Failing examples include...
- McDonalds
- Hershey’s
- Mondelez International
Payday lending (Australia only)
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company offer payday lending services?
Failing examples include...
- Credit Corp
Chemicals of concern
are screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company produce agricultural chemicals that negatively impact natural ecosystems or human and animal health?
Failing examples include...
- Nufarm
Does the company use toxic chemicals in the extraction or mining of silver and gold?
Failing examples include...
- Saracen (cyanide in mining)
Pornography
is screened for via the following criteria...
Does the company produce pornographic material or provide specific and significant services to the pornographic industry (including sale)?
Failing examples include...
- No companies assessed
All Future Super investments are screened to ensure they align with our members’ values. However, we consider how each investment and asset class may have exposure to ethical risks or impact opportunities, as well as how they can work together to produce the best possible outcomes for investors. Therefore, adapting our screening, stewardship and impact strategies for each investment leverages it for the best effect while also reflecting our broader investment and risk management strategies. For more information on Future Super’s impact strategy, screening guideline for each asset, and specific thresholds for each screen, click here.
Everything we invest in
While Future Super aims to invest in companies that further our mission, there are plenty of investments that pass our screens which aren’t considered impact investments.
Some are companies you’d recognise, like Netflix or Telstra. We don’t expect every investment to change the world, but we do make all our investments public so that anyone can see where the money goes.
Explore our investmentsInvestment in Australian equities is predominantly made via the BetaShares Australian Sustainability Leaders ETF. Investment in international equities is via the BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders ETF. Exposure to global green bonds is predominantly made via the BetaShares Sustainability Leaders Diversified Bond ETF. For more information about these ETFs see https://www.betashares.com.au.
Future Super Investment Services Pty Ltd (FSIS) is a service provider to BetaShares for these products, with its role being to provide recommendations to the Responsible Investment Committee on the index constituents and corporate actions. Details of FSIS services to BetaShares are found in the Financial Services Guide.
