Castlefield shortlisted for two Better Society Awards

We're delighted to have been shortlisted for two categories at this year’s Better Society Awards - the Green Finance Award and Good Money Award.

The awards, organised by the Better Society Network, aim to recognise and reward companies who are “helping create a better, more equal, ethical and sustainable world for all”.

To be shortlisted, organisations must provide a 1,000-word submission for each category, providing evidence to support their commitment to achieving a better society, along with any key results to date.

An independent panel will then judge the submissions of the shortlisted finalists, based on their positive influence on society, with the winners announced at a ceremony taking at place at London’s Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square on 2 December.

2021 marks the 7th running of the Annual Better Society Awards. The Green Finance Award seeks to recognise companies that are helping to open up responsible finance, either by providing finance for ESG projects or changing their investment strategies to reduce their damaging impact. The Good Money Award is appraised on the way in which an organisation incorporates ethics into all areas of business conduct, but especially on how it is providing ethical finance.

Castlefield’s sustainable portfolio growth fund was created to address the limited options for investors wanting a single solution whilst investing responsibly and sustainably. It aims to make ESG investment easily accessible to like-minded investors, that might otherwise be unable to access specialist ESG expertise. Low initial investment and ongoing contribution ensures cost isn’t a barrier to investing sustainably. Recent developments include a separate sister asset income fund, demonstrating progress in our ESG capability, along with launching Castlefield direct – an online portal to access and manage investments.

We were also early adopters of the new stewardship code from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), producing our most comprehensive annual report – subsequently becoming signatories of their UK Stewardship Code as a result.

Other activities included within the submission include details of our active collaborative engagement with Share Action on their healthy markets initiative, along with work to raise awareness of sustainable issues through our comprehensive communications program.