Fidelity International has hired M&G Investment’s Phil Cliff and Federated Hermes’ Aaron Hay as directors of sustainable investing.
The pair will join the London office with Hay specialising in ESG integration for private credit strategies and Cliff focusing on climate integration as part of Fidelity’s plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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Cliff will also assist in Fidelity’s plans to reach net zero for corporate operations by 2030, bringing his experience as head of climate from M&G. Cliff began his career at Skandia as an analyst in 1999, before moving to Threadneedle where he worked as a director and fund manager. He took on a role at Occam Asset Management before spending the past 11 years at M&G, becoming director of sustainable investments in 2019 and head of climate in 2021.
Hay has spent the past five years at Federated Hermes working in sustainability, most recently as the director of engagement and strategy for sustainable fixed income. He spent three years before that in sustainability positions at Accenture, and currentlis y a trustee of the EIRIS Foundation.
Jenn-Hui Tan, chief sustainability officer of Fidelity International, said: “The sustainability landscape is evolving at an ever-increasing pace. In order to ensure we are at the forefront of this change, we continue to invest in talent to drive innovation and best practice at Fidelity.
“Phil and Aaron have extensive experience in their respective fields of knowledge and will add bench strength to the ESG team’s existing deep global expertise.”
In 2021, Fidelity committed to a climate strategy that targeted halving carbon emissions by 2030. It also pledged a “gradual exit” from the thermal coal sector in countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development by 2030 and globally by 2040.
