Franklin Templeton has formed a Stewardship and Sustainability Council bringing together the ESG leaders from its 19 investment management arms, as the group also looks for a new global head of ESG.

In a statement, Franklin Templeton said Julie Moret, global head of ESG, left the firm on March 17 to pursue another opportunity. The group is looking to recruit a successor, which will play an integral role in the newly created Council.

Among its responsibilities, the new Council will guide the evolution of the group’s wider ESG infrastructure and best practices as well as set research agendas for stewardship and sustainability, and look into data requirements, transparency, and reporting. It will also provide insights and guidance on key sustainability topics to the rest of the teams and serve as forum to monitor and provide feedback on related policy and regulation.

It will be co-chaired by David Sheasby, head of Stewardship and ESG for Martin Currie, and David Zahn, head of European fixed income, and head of sustainable fixed income for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income. Both will retain their current responsibilities within their respective investment teams as they take on this co-chair role.

Jenny Johnson, President and CEO of Franklin Templeton, said” “We aspire to become a global leader in stewardship and sustainability and we are excited to announce the formation of the Stewardship and Sustainability Council that will leverage the considerable ESG expertise embedded within our investment teams.

“While the strength of our organisation lies with the breadth and autonomy of our specialist investment managers, we also recognise that an organisation of our scale can have tremendous positive impact by working collectively on stewardship and sustainability matters for the benefit of our clients.”

“I would like to thank Julie Moret for her dedicated leadership and contribution to the firm over the last eight years, and we wish her well in her future endeavours,” she added.