WisdomTree Corporate Responsibility
Sustainability and corporate responsibility are embedded throughout our business. We believe this benefits our investors, employees, shareholders and the wider society.
We believe there is a need for diversification and full transparency in how investors allocate their money. ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing is a big part of WisdomTree’s global approach and ties in with existing and planned corporate initiatives.
Corporate responsibility
WisdomTree aligns its CSR strategy and operations to four fundamental responsibilities: People, Environment, Social and Anti-corruption. These key areas feed into the 17 Sustainable development goals set by the UN.
Woman's Initiative Network
WisdomTree formally launched its Women’s Initiative Network (“WIN”) in 2019. The employee-led network is designed to offer:
+ A community to provide opportunities and support for all WisdomTree female employees
+ Career development and professional training opportunities
+ Female empowerment and leadership within the organization
DEI
In 2021, WisdomTree established its inaugural diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) council. The council is comprised of a diverse mix of employees from across our business and is tasked with overseeing and helping to advance our efforts to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture.
Education
WisdomTree provides a variety of opportunities for employees to further their careers and develop new skills through personal and professional development, including:
+ WisdomTree Talks: Employees are invited to regular talks hosted by each department across the organisation in order to gain a holistic view of the company and better understand what their colleagues’ jobs entail
+ Job-specific training courses
+ Executive Lunches: Opportunity for all employees to get closer to senior leaders
+ Cybersecurity training: In addition to a robust Cybersecurity Plan, our employees are regularly trained to identify potential cybersecurity threats equipping them with tools to protect the company, colleagues and themselves from such risks
+ Town Halls: We hold monthly town halls to inform our employees of business developments and job openings for those seeking career development opportunities
Anti-Money Laundering
WisdomTree is required, under legal and regulatory requirements, to adopt effective and adequate procedures to detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Our AML policies and procedures extend across our European business and also consider the implications and potential risks of any 3rd parties and service providers.
Anti-Bribery and Corruption
WisdomTree has established an Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, demonstrating its commitment to preventing bribery and establishing a zero-tolerance approach to bribery in all parts of its business operation.
WisdomTree aims to limit its exposure to bribery and corruption by setting this policy and providing periodic training to all employees so that they can recognise and avoid bribery offences or suspicious activity.
The firm’s senior management and compliance function encourage employees to be vigilant and to report any suspicion of bribery, providing them with suitable channels of communication and ensuring sensitive information is treated appropriately.
Carbon Neutral
WisdomTree in Europe is proud to be a certified carbon neutral company.
Through carbon-offsetting our European operations have been Carbon Neutral since 2019. The first step in our journey to being a net-zero asset manager was taking control of our corporate activities in Europe and becoming a Carbon Neutral organisation. Partnering with Carbon Footprint we successfully calculated and offset our carbon emissions.
Learn more about our approach to carbon offsetting.
Climate Awareness
WisdomTree considers its impact on the environment to be low. Due to the nature of our business, WisdomTree has a relatively light carbon footprint and does not generate hazardous waste or emit meaningful levels of greenhouse gasses.
Our Approach to Carbon Offsetting
Working with Carbon Footprint, we are proud to be supporting a new project to offset 2022 emissions: Zoba Anseba Community Safe Water Project.
The project supports the provision of safe water using borehole technology to hundreds of households in the Zoba Anseba district of Eritrea. Many local people currently use wood fuel on inefficient fires to purify their water, which results in the release of greenhouse gases. This can be avoided by implementing a process that doesn’t require fuel combustion to supply clean water. Additional project benefits include:
+ Renovation of boreholes that have fallen into disrepair
+ Households will require less firewood for water purification
+ A reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion process used to purify water
Tree Planting with Ripple Africa
At WisdomTree, we recognise the importance of protecting the environment and believe we all have a responsibility to make positive changes to help reduce our climate impact and raise awareness. To this end, we are delighted to have worked with Ripple Africa to plant 10,000 trees in 2022. Learn more about this initiative.
Volunteering at WisdomTree
Each employee is permitted one additional paid day off from work per holiday year in order to volunteer for a charitable organisation. This can be taken as a individual or as team, for example 30 employees recently spent a day painting a Night Shelter which is used to house beds for the local homeless population
Pilotlight
Representatives from our Executive Management Team and Research team support a program that matches our employees with local charities and social enterprises to provide business guidance and support to become more efficient, effective, and sustainable organizations.
FareShare
In 2020 the coronavirus outbreak moved WisdomTree to a remote-first organisation and we saw an opportunity to partner with FareShare, the UK’s national network of charitable food redistributors to re-allocate the office catering budget to those who needed help. One year later, our donations had an amazing and significant impact on those who needed the support, helping to feed 18,000 people during the first year of the pandemic!
WisdomTree Certifications