ESG for Shareholders

• 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.
• We utilise the UK Government’s Environmental Reporting Guidance and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) conversion factors to calculate carbon dioxide emissions for all office locations.

• We utilise electronic media across the Group in place of paper reports.
• Our ‘everyday paper’ across the Group is exclusively paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
• Where possible, we have reduced the volume of hard copy material that is required to be retained and stored for record-keeping purposes.

• We shred and recycle all confidential waste.
• We recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, glass and printer toner cartridges.

• In 2015, all existing light bulbs in the US East Coast office of our wholly-owned subsidiary company, City of London Investment Management Company Limited, were replaced with LED bulbs.

CLIG meets all statutory obligations which apply to the Group’s activities in each of its locations and is additionally 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, physical ability or age.
• Strict adherence to and compliance with the regulatory requirements in force in each of our operating locations 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.
• Ensuring good practices and creating a workplace free of harassment and bullying and where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
• CLIG is committed to maintain a high level of Health and Safety (H&S) by conducting internal H&S audits and risk assessments to improve ergonomics throughout its offices.

Gender Diversity

At 30th June 2019 the gender ratio at Board level was 38% female to 62% male (2018: 25% to 75%).

Of our 73 employees, 34% are female (2018: 36%), including 33% of senior management (2018: 29%), and 35% of the remaining employees (2018: 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 as one of our core values. To that end we have a working from home policy which applies to all Group employees.

Human Rights

City of London Investment Group is committed to respect all human rights. Our operations and practices relevant to the workplace and community are aligned with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Learning and Development

Our employees are an asset to us. We recognise and support the importance of encouraging all staff 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. This year we have sponsored employees for their CFA & CMT studies, as well as contributing towards an employee’s Master’s Degree. This is in addition to the usual seminars and conferences our employees attend. Anti-money laundering and Code of Ethics training is provided annually to all staff. Employees also take responsibility for their development via our annual appraisal process, where they are able to discuss further training where they feel it is necessary.

We continue with the CLIG Security Education Programme (CSEP), which is a multi- faceted Cyber Security training program which includes online courses and videos via a web-based portal to allow employees to complete their training from anywhere.

We recognise the value of cross-training across our offices and regularly transfer employees to other offices to obtain experience. We currently have an employee from Philadelphia on a two year Cyber Security assignment at our Singapore office and recently we had a Singapore employee visiting the US office for three weeks of cross-training.

Internal training is available to all employees on all of our products. In addition, we offer awareness sessions on a regular basis to keep employees up to date with relevant aspects of the business. Our induction programme for new employees takes place over a period of weeks and is an ongoing process to ensure new employees settle well into the organisation and are confident carrying out the full scope of their duties.

City of London Investment Group 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 firm 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.
• COLeague News, an internal CLIG document which helps raise awareness, share efforts and spread participation across all our offices.

2019/2020 Highlights include:

• Food Bank donations to support underprivileged families in the local communities (US & UK).
• SalvationArmyandCommunity,YouthandWomen’sAlliancegiftgivingand donations (US & Singapore).
• Ramadan Community Campaigns to support refugees (Dubai).
• Support those in need through local community projects over the Christmas period (UK).
• Blood Drive through American Red Cross (US & Dubai).
• Animal volunteer organizations supporting stray dogs and play areas (US & Singapore).
• Student backpacks and school supplies donation to support local schools with underprivileged students (US).
• Various runs and fundraisers to support causes such as Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Hearing Loss Association of America, Children Support Charities and Cancer Research (US & UK).
• Local community COVID-19 support groups – shopping/running errands forvulnerable/shielding (UK).
• Government/NHS volunteers for assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic (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.