We believe that investment markets will only be as healthy as the environment and communities that support them.
Engaging for better public health is a key priority in our stewardship work. Our health stewardship covers a range of themes, including mental health and nutrition.
The strong correlation between human health and investment returns was clearly visible during the Covid-19 pandemic; we quickly learned that healthy companies require healthy workers.
The private sector undertakes many activities that affect people’s health, both positively and negatively. Within a company’s immediate sphere of influence, its approach to the health, safety and welfare of its own workforce can have a direct impact on its profitability. More broadly, the products or services that a company sells come with consequences for customers.
Where products or services have the most significant, unmitigable, negative impact upon public health, we restrict investment in the associated companies. For instance, CCLA applies a 5% revenue restriction to tobacco, that applies to all portfolios.
Initiatives
Improving mental health
We have developed the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmarks which rate companies’ policies and processes for protecting the mental health of their staff.
Promoting healthier markets
From tackling obesity to addressing workplace ill-health, we believe investors can play a key role in promoting healthier markets.
Engagement stories
Nestlé (nutrition)
Good nutrition is fundamental to good health and by engaging with food and beverage manufacturers on nutrition, we can play a role in improving public health. More than a billion servings of Nestlé products are consumed every day worldwide (Source: Nestlé), making the company a key player in this sphere.
We have been engaging with Nestlé on nutrition since 2017. In 2025, we took the role of lead investor for the Access to Nutrition Initiative coalition and attended the company’s AGM in Geneva. We asked the new CEO to prioritise this topic.
Since 2022, Nestlé has increased the age threshold from 13 to 16 for marketing unhealthy products; improved nutrition disclosure; and set a target on sales of healthier products. In 2025, it announced further commitments on disclosure. We will be visiting the company in October 2025 to work towards stronger targets on sales of healthier products.
AstraZeneca (workplace mental health)
AstraZeneca is one of more than 100 companies in the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark – Global 100+. Despite engagement calls with the company in April 2024 and March 2025, and a letter to the company’s CEO on behalf of a sizeable investor coalition annually, the company’s performance has steadily deteriorated. Having scored 60% in its 2022 benchmark assessment, the company scored just 40% in 2024, representing the largest deterioration of any company in the mental health benchmark over this time period.
Engagement with the company will continue. In April 2025, we voted against the re-election of the CEO, Pascal Soriot, reflecting our level of concern over the company’s record on workplace mental health.
Novo Nordisk (workplace mental health)
Novo Nordisk is one of more than 100 companies assessed and ranked annually in the CCLA Corporate Mental Health Benchmark – Global 100+. We have been engaging with the company on this topic since 2022.
In response to engagement, the company has clarified its management responsibility for mental health, disclosed health and safety certification in production facilities, and improved wellbeing performance data. As a result of these improvements, it has increased its benchmark score by 35 percentage points between 2022 and 2024, resulting in a move from Tier 5 to Tier 3. The company was assessed again in June 2025, with benchmark publication due in October.