April 2026

The ESG Valuation Gap: A Comparative Study of Egyptian and Saudi Listed Companies

By Mawaheb Abdel-Aziz Ismail The study examines the value relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures and tests for crosscountry differences in its impact on perceived firm value between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It specifically investigates whether ESG data provides incremental explanatory power beyond traditional accounting measures in determining stock prices in these two distinct MENA markets. The study employs a modified Ohlson (1995) valuation model using panel data from 2021 to 2024. The empirical analysis is conducted using...

2024 Sustainability Investment Report

By Government Pension Investment Fund  The Government Pension Investment Fund, Japan (GPIF) has published the "2024 Sustainability Investment Report" as a way of reporting on GPIF's sustainability-related initiative, including Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), and the effects thereof to all pension beneficiaries and other stakeholders. In the "2024 Sustainability Investment Report," in addition to presenting the initiatives on sustainability investment undertaken during the year and the ESG evaluation of the portfolio, we also conducted the "Analysis of the Exercise of...

January 2026

Decoding Pension Funds: Sustainability Indicators for Annual Report Analysis

By Leticia Martins Medeiros, Clea Beatriz Macagnan & Rosane Maria Seibert Pension funds’ growth highlights the need to emphasize fiduciary duty and investment sustainability, considering the current and future participants’ interests (priority stakeholders) and systemic risk reduction (environmental, social, economic, and governance effects). Therefore, this study builds sustainability indicators based on the interests of pension fund stakeholders. The methodology comprised five stages: the first consisted of analyzing Annual Information Reports to create a preliminary list of indicators; the second involved...

October 2025

The Future of Retirement Security An International Comparison through the Lens of Adequacy, Sustainability, Equity and Plan Design

By Surya Kolluri, Catherine Reilly & David P. Richardson Countries around the world are considering and implementing reforms to their retirement systems for a variety of reasons, including increasing demographic and economic pressures. A key demographic driver is human longevity. For example, the average retiree can expect to spend about two decades in retirement, roughly double the time from 50 years ago. In the United States, life expectancy has risen by 17 years since the Social Security program debuted nearly 90...

Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2025

By Tim Jenkins, Nicola Mc Garel & Sarah Hudson The Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index benchmarks 52 retirement income systems worldwide, spotlighting both challenges and opportunities for policymakers and investors. This year’s index expands with Kuwait, Namibia, Oman, and Panama added, incorporates updated OECD data, and introduces new integrity measures for sharper insights. Systems are assessed across three pillars, adequacy, sustainability, and integrity, using more than 50 indicators. In 2025, the Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark, Singapore and Israel all achieved...

August 2025

Enhancing Financial Regulation of Green Infrastructure Investment

By Andreas (Andy) Jobst The paper examines the critical need for enhanced financial regulation to support green infrastructure investment as climate action becomes increasingly pressing. It points out that infrastructure is responsible for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions and that climate-related disasters lead to annual losses of nearly one percent of GDP, with poorer countries being disproportionately affected. Green infrastructure plays a crucial role in reducing carbon footprints through renewable energy and low-emission transport, as well as...

May 2025

Sustainability reporting on pension schemes the path forward

In an era marked by growing awareness of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, sustainability reporting has emerged as a crucial aspect for organisations, investors and stakeholders. For pension schemes, particularly, integrating sustainability into their reporting frameworks is more than just a regulatory requirement; it’s an ethical imperative that aligns with the long-term nature of their commitments to retirees and the society. Read the complete book here

April 2025

Optimal Investment-Consumption and Retirement Choice with Labor and Pension Incomes

By Hyun Jin Jang & Seon Hwa Lee This study examines lifetime optimal investment, consumption, and retirement timing decisions under a heterogeneous consumption utility function and the presence of pension earnings. Using the duality method, we derive the optimal wealth, investment-consumption strategies, and voluntary retirement region. Through simulation analysis, we assess the impact of pensions on these decisions. Our findings highlight the critical role of pensions in retirement planning, alongside wages and labor costs. Notably, pension benefits encourage earlier voluntary...

March 2025

Considerations on ESG Investment Implementation

By Laura T. Starks Although interest in investing according to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) standards is widespread, investment managers face a number of basic considerations with their portfolio choices. In this article, I give a high-level overview of these considerations within the context of the investor motivation: ESG values, ESG value, or both. These considerations include whether investors should exclude certain firms or use a positive tilt; how they could integrate ESG into an investment approach; the role...

July 2024

Sustainable Investing in Pensions: Top Tips for Sponsors of Pension Schemes

 By Accounting for Sustainability This top tips guidance is written for organizations that sponsor a pension scheme on the why and how to engage with your pension trustees on sustainable investing. Just as more and more companies are embedding social and environmental risk and opportunity into strategy and decision making, it is vital that their pension schemes follow suit. The impact that climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks can have on value and returns is driving changes across...