New York Life Investments Launches "One-Talk, One-Ton" Sustainable Investing Challenge for Financial Advisors

Pledge campaign aims to encourage greater engagement between advisors and clients on sustainable investing

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Sep 23, 2020, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- New York Life Investments today announced the launch of its "One-Talk, One-Ton" Challenge, designed to encourage financial advisors to discuss sustainable investing with their clients.

Through the "One-Talk, One-Ton" Challenge, New York Life Investments is committing to offsetting one ton of carbon emissions for each conversation financial advisors pledge to have with clients on sustainable investing, beginning on Zero Emissions Day (September 21) through October 23, 2020. During this five-week period, New York Life Investments will purchase up to 10,000 carbon offsets – one ton per conversation. These carbon offsets ultimately seek to neutralize those activity-generated emissions that cannot be eliminated.

The pledge campaign focuses on driving greater engagement between advisors and their clients on sustainable investing and comes after recent New York Life Investments research found that most investors (58%) contend that their advisors play the biggest role in determining their investments, yet only 35% are aware of sustainable investing. Among investors broadly, 53% identified themselves as "values-driven," 84% of whom expressed interest in discussing sustainable investing with their advisors.

"As investors increasingly embrace values-driven investing, it's critical that advisors support and encourage their interest by introducing opportunities to marry their investment strategy with precisely those values," said Yie-Hsin Hung, CEO of New York Life Investment Management. "Our 'One-Talk, One Ton' Challenge is meant as an incentive to encourage advisors to engage their clients on a topic that, as our research suggests, is critically important to them, while at the same time, joining us in making a commitment on Zero Emissions Day to offset the adverse effects of carbon emissions. Doing so will not only help address a critical environmental issue, but it will also meaningfully fortify their relationships with their clients as they seek to build long-term, lasting partnerships."

The New York Life Investments "One-Talk, One-Ton" Challenge consists of four stages:

Advisors pledge to have at least one sustainable investing-related conversation with a client each week beginning on Zero Emissions Day (September 21) and ending on October 23, 2020.
In order to prepare themselves, advisors can then use New York Life Investments' educational resources, including the U.S. CANDRIAM Academy, the first free-to-access, accredited ESG training platform, to learn more about sustainable investing.
From there, advisors should engage their clients in meaningful conversations about the importance of sustainable investing, the availability of ESG funds, the meaning of ESG ratings and other critical sustainable investing topics.
New York Life Investments will offset one ton of carbon emissions for each client conversation advisors pledge to have, up to 10,000 total offsets.

Advisors interested in taking the pledge can do so by registering with their information here: https://www.morethaninvesting.com/takethepledge

Through the "One Talk, One Ton" Challenge, New York Life Investments will purchase carbon offsets that support two pioneering projects that align with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These projects include the Garcia River Redwood Forest Protection project, which protects California's ancient redwood forests from timber harvesting, and the Efficient Cookstoves Rwanda project, which distributes efficient, innovative cookstove technologies to communities in Rwanda in order to reduce fuel consumption.

About New York Life Investments

With $600 billion in Assets Under Management* as of June 30, 2020, New York Life Investments is comprised of the affiliated global asset management businesses of its parent company, New York Life Insurance Company (New York Life), and offers clients access to specialized, independent investment teams through its family of affiliated boutiques. New York Life Investments remains committed to clients through a combination of the diverse perspectives of its boutiques and a long-lasting focus on sustainable relationships.

New York Life Insurance Company (www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States** and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life Insurance Company's family of companies offers life insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life Insurance Company has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies***.

*AUM includes assets of Investment Advisors affiliated with New York Life Insurance Company as of June 30, 2020. AUM for Candriam and Ausbil is reported at the spot rate.

**Based on revenue as reported by "Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual)," Fortune magazine, 5/18/20. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500/.

***Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 9/12/2019: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody's Investors Service (Aaa), Standard & Poor's (AA+) The financial strength of New York Life Insurance Company applies only to its insurance products and not to investment products which are subject to market risk and fluctuation in value.

"New York Life Investments" is both a service mark, and the common trade name, of certain investment advisors affiliated with New York Life Insurance Company.

SOURCE New York Life Investments