IFM Investors’ community grants to support social and environmental projects across the globe

IFM Investors has approved grants in local communities where it invests around the globe to support initiatives that aim to create career-pathways for women at risk of gender-based violence in Mexico, harness Indigenous cultural knowledge to conserve local environments in Australia, and help protect and restore local habitats in the UK and Czech Republic.

IFM Investors’ Community Grants Program, now in its third year, aims to promote collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships between its infrastructure portfolio companies and local community organisations.

Eight projects across Europe, North America and Australia have been selected to each receive up to AU$40,000 in funding. Successful 2021 program grant projects are:

• $39,000 for a habitat restoration partnership at Adelaide Airport with Landcare and local Aboriginal workers

• $39,000 to develop the Gurumbai Cultural Experience with Larrakia Nation at NT Airports;

• $40,000 for a habitat restoration partnership at Langton Brook, with Anglian Water and the Welland Rivers Trust in the United Kingdom

• $40,000 to improve local habitat in the rural Moravian-Silesian Region with Czech Republic water management company Aqualia and not-for-profit group ZO SOP Levrekv

• $10,000 to restore bushland and remove invasive weeds at Lane Cove National Park, with Ausgrid electricity distribution company and Friends of Lane Cover National Park

• $40,000 to provide training and equipment for 30 ‘at risk’ women in Ecatepec to become qualified plumbers with Aleatica Mexico and community organisation IIDHEG

• $40,000 for training to improve user accessibility along the Indiana Toll Road (ITR) for deaf and hard of hearing users and employment pathways for hard of hearing and deaf individuals to join the ITR team

• $39,000 to improve biodiversity and water quality for koalas around the Port of Brisbane, with the Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee.

Successful proposals clearly demonstrated planned work with a local community organisation to protect and conserve the local environment or create employment pathways for underrepresented members of the community, or both.

Quotes attributable to Chris Newton, Executive Director, Responsible Investment, IFM Investors.

“We believe that supporting the sustainability of the local communities where we invest and operate is essential for IFM to deliver on our purpose, which is to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people.”

“We value the connection and mutually beneficial relationships our portfolio companies aim to build and maintain with their local communities through these grassroots projects, and we look forward to seeing the environmental and social benefits they aim to create.”

For media queries, please contact: Phil Davey +61 414 867 188.

About IFM Investors:

IFM Investors was established more than 25 years ago with the aim to protect and grow the long-term retirement savings of working people. Owned by a group of Australian pension funds, the organisation has A$179 billion under management as at 30 September 2021. Because IFM is owned by industry pension funds, we prioritise the interests of over 500 like-minded investors worldwide by focusing on assets that aim to combine excellent long-term risk/reward characteristics with broad economic and social benefits to the community. As a signatory to The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment, IFM actively engages on ESG issues with the companies in which we invest with the aim of enhancing their net performance while minimising investment risk. Operating globally from offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, Berlin, Zurich, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul, Amsterdam and Tokyo, IFM manages investments across infrastructure, debt, listed equities and private equity assets. For more information, visit www.ifminvestors.com

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