ESG

City of London Investment Group plc (CLIG) strives to maintain high levels of transparency and ethical standards in the conduct of our business on behalf of shareholders, clients, and employees. CLIG maintains detailed policies to achieve this objective, which are overseen by the Group Board.

Environmental

City of London Investment Group believes that it has a responsibility to care for and protect the environment in which we operate. While CLIG’s activities have a relatively modest direct environmental impact, we recognise that society’s collective challenge to minimise environmental risks necessitates a proactive stance to measure and, wherever commercially possible, improve the overall environmental performance. Of course, an additional benefit to these solutions is a reduction in costs due to decreased usage of energy and materials, which we are happy to pass on to shareholders. We have complied with the requirements of LR 9.8.6 during the financial year ended 30th June 2025.

  • We maximise the use of video-conferencing facilities, which exist in all office locations and which serve to limit inter-office air travel by employees.
  • CLIG PLC recognises the importance of minimising our environmental impact where possible. Business travel remains an essential part of our operations. We have chosen to mitigate our emissions from business travel by purchasing carbon offsets.  For year 24/25 we purchased 235 credits to offset our business travel, Singapore office emissions, office gas consumption, and a 5% contingency. This will offset all of our business travel. Our purchased offset projects demonstrate additionality and permanence, ensuring that they are impactful and sustainable over time. Each carbon project used in our offsetting strategy meets at least three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

  • In order to save paper we no longer post hard copy Proxy Forms, and encourage shareholders to vote online.
  • The paper used in our Annual Report contains materials sourced from responsibly managed and sustainable commercial forests, certified in accordance with the FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®).

  • Our London office is underpinned by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin.
  • Our West Chester, Pennsylvania office is supported by renewable energy credits, purchased from solar and wind resources.
  • Our Rochester office is supplemented by renewable energy credits for wind power generated in New York State.
  • Our Singapore office will be reviewed at the end of the current tenancy.

Social

City of London Investment Group recognises that it has responsibilities with respect to both the welfare and development of the group as well as the improvement of the communities in which all group offices are located.

In addition to the statutory obligations, CLIG is committed to maintaining transparent policies in respect of the following:

  • Recognition of diversity through recruitment and promotion based on merit without regard to ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, family or marital status, language, national origin, political affiliation, race, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.
  • Strict adherence to and compliance with the regulatory requirements in force by all employees supported by clear guidelines that enable whistleblowing.
  • Participation by employees in the Group’s activities through share ownership arrangements that encourage employee retention and minimise turnover; and
  • Ensuring good practices and creating a workplace free of harassment and bullying and in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect, following the law set by the Equality Act 2010 in the UK, and in local jurisdictions of our offices. 


Under the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018, the Board is required to agree a mechanism to ensure ongoing engagement with the workforce. Rian Dartnell, Chair, has been designated as the Non-Executive Director for employee engagement.

Gender Diversity

As an employer, CLIG is committed to equality and valuing diversity within its workforce. As noted above, we believe that people should be appointed to their roles based on skills, merit and performance. We recognise that diversity adds value, and our goal is to ensure that our commitments, reinforced by our values, are embedded in our day-to-day working practices.

The gender ratio at the Board level as at 30th June 2025 was 20% female to 80% male. This is compared to 40% female on 30th June 2024. Following the departure of Tom Griffith as an Executive Director of the CLIG Board on 1st July 2025, the gender ratio was 25% female to 75% male.

Of our 110 employees, excluding Non-Executive Directors, 38% are female (2024: 36%), including 31% of senior management including Executive Directors (2024: 24%), and 39% of the remaining employees (2024: 38%). 

Work/Life Balance

As the Group continues to adapt with advancements in technology, changes in culture, and the changing family circumstances of our employees, we try to be fair and flexible while retaining teamwork supported by in person collaboration as one of our core values. 

Our management team and the Board engaged with the workforce on the topic of Work from Home (WFH) during the year via an employee survey. Our WFH policy is reviewed on an annual basis, as we continue to work towards finding the right balance for the three primary stakeholders – Employees, Clients and Shareholders. 

The Group has a hybrid WFH policy where employees are provided a bank of flexible WFH days to use during the financial year, pending appropriate coverage on premise by colleagues in their respective departments.

Human Rights

CLIG is committed to respecting all human rights. Our operations and practices relevant to the workplace and community are aligned with the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Learning and Development

Our employees are an asset to us. We recognise and support the importance of encouraging all employees to complete professional qualifications relevant to their role, in order to progress and realise their full potential. We partner with our employees and contribute towards their development by sponsoring their studies and providing study leave. As both operating subsidiaries are active investment managers, we will sponsor employees for their Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA ®) designation and annual membership where the designation is relevant for their role or career path. In the past year, we also supported leadership training via the KPMG Executive Leadership Institute for Women and a certification from the Society for Human Resource Management. Mandatory anti-money laundering and Code of Ethics training is provided annually to all employees. Employees also take responsibility for their own development via our annual appraisal process, where they are able to discuss further training needs with their manager.

We continued with the CLIG Security Education Programme (CSEP), which is a multi-faceted cybersecurity training programme that includes online courses and videos via a web-based portal. We are proud of our employees’ abilities to keep our data safe, and their commitment to monthly training and phishing exercises. Additionally, we use the web-based portal to provide training on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics twice during each financial year. 

In addition, the following training sessions are provided to all employees:

  • Internal training on our investment management services.
  • Awareness sessions on a regular basis to keep employees up to date with relevant aspects of the business.
  • Induction programme to all new employees over a period of several weeks. It is an ongoing process to ensure new employees settle well into the Group and are confident in carrying out the full scope of their duties.

We have Group-wide policies on a range of social issues, including Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Anti-Slavery & Human Trafficking, Anti-Corruption & Bribery and Whistleblowing. 

CLIG seeks to encourage employees to regularly participate in community support activities across a wide spectrum of causes that encompass both monetary and non-monetary efforts to help raise awareness. In turn, this fosters a culture of leadership, teamwork and appreciation within our Group and community. Our long-term goals include:

  • Encouraging employee volunteer work in community activities.
  • Engaging in programmes that make communities better places to live and work.
  • Using local suppliers to help support businesses within the community.
  • Raising awareness, sharing efforts and encouraging participation via COLeague news, our internal newsletter.

An illustrative, but not exhaustive, list of employees’ participations in FY 2025 includes: 

  • United Way Day of Caring, to weed and clean the grounds of a local religious property (US).
  • Socktober Drive to collect new socks for the homeless in advance of the winter months (US).
  • Thanksgiving Food Drive for a local food pantry (US).
  • Annual Toy Drive during the Holiday season for a local shelter (US).
  • Bake sale to raise funds for The Switch (UK). 
  • Donated new or gently used professional clothing for Career Closet at the local University (US).
  • Various athletic achievements and fundraisers to support various causes (US and UK).

As a matter of policy, CLIG does not make donations to any client-related charity, event or activity, or to any political party or candidate.

Governance

City of London Investment Group endeavours to conduct its business according to the highest governance standards, providing shareholders with as much transparency and accountability as possible. The June 2025 Annual Report and Accounts reflects disclosures required under the 2018 UK Corporate Governance Code, including reporting obligations driven by Section 172 of the 2006 Companies Act.