November 2021
04Nov

Can ethical investing really help in the fight against climate change?

By Ralph Benson What links climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Facebook whistleblowing controversy? They’re all impossible to ignore when it comes to investing your money ethically. As global leaders and climate activists gather in Glasgow this week for COP26, in the face of the threat of climate catastrophe, the term ‘ethical’ will be bandied about in relation to all topics, from government finances to corporate responsibility. We, as potential pension investors, can play our part in this by...

November 4, 2021
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03Nov

Pension funds commit $130 billion to fight climate change at the COP26 summit

Nordic and British pension funds on Tuesday committed to invest $130 billion by 2030 to fight climate change, and report annually on the progress of their green investments. Denmark said $75 billion of the funds were new commitments. The pledge, launched at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, included asset owners in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the United Kingdom, plus a fund from Greenland. "Green transition requires massive investments. Governments have to do their part...

November 3, 2021
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October 2021
29Oct

Denmark. Pension major ATP aims for $31 billion of green investments by 2030

Denmark's ATP, one of Europe's largest pension funds, aims to have 200 billion Danish crowns ($31 billion) worth of green investments by 2030 and half that in 2025, it said in a statement on Thursday. "Reaching 100 billion DKK in green investments in just three years is - even for an investor of ATP's size - an ambitious challenge," ATP's chief executive Bo Foged said in a statement. "We want to spend the money where the return is attractive and a...

October 29, 2021
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28Oct

UK pension schemes are funding more emissions than the entire UK’s carbon footprint

The analysis suggests pension schemes invest an estimated £112 billion in fossil fuels. That means for every £1,000 invested around £60 supports the fossil fuel industry. Richard Curtis, Co-Founder at Make My Money Matter, commented: “While we’ve seen green shoots of progress with voluntary net zero commitments, £2 trillion remains in schemes which have failed to act, undermining the UK government’s own net zero targets.” Last week, new research found that almost 70% of leading UK schemes have not made robust net...

October 28, 2021
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27Oct

Market-led Sustainability is a ‘Fix that Fails’… but It May Have Been the Necessary ‘Defence at First Depth’

By Duncan Austin Humankind is a complex system suddenly pitched into adaptive crisis. From this bigger perspective, our ‘first response’ to the crisis has overwhelmingly been a voluntary market-led response under various banners – SRI, CSR, ESG, ‘impact’ etc. While this voluntary market-led (VML) meta-strategy has been a beneficial, and possibly inevitable, first response, it is becoming clear it is insufficient as an adaptive solution and that its pursuit now forestalls deeper changes required. We need to graduate from a VML...

October 27, 2021
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26Oct

Dutch pension giant spurns fossil fuels as funds shift before COP26

Dutch pension fund ABP will divest 15 billion euros ($17.5 billion) of investments in fossil fuel producers by 2023, it said on Tuesday, as many of the world's biggest investors set out new climate policies ahead of next week's COP26 summit. Read also UK pension schemes are funding more emissions than the entire UK’s carbon footprint With policymakers gearing up for the talks aimed at accelerating action on global warming, financial firms from across the world are announcing new steps to...

October 26, 2021
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20Oct

US. Allianz, Calpers to Cut Portfolio Emissions by Up to 30% by 2025

By 2025, 29 of the world’s biggest pension funds and investment firms, including Allianz SE and the  California Public Employees’ Retirement System, intend to have cut the emissions of their portfolio holdings by at least 25%. The targets, which cover publicly-traded equities, corporate bonds and real estate portfolios, were announced in a statement Wednesday by the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which was convened by the United Nations. Other firms that are part of the group and have also made such  a commitment include  Aviva Plc and Swiss Re AG. Eliminating emissions generated from their holdings has...

October 20, 2021
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13Oct

Canada. Ontario Teachers’ Announces Agreement to Acquire Majority Stake in Vantage Elevator Solutions

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board ("Ontario Teachers'"), today announced an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Vantage Elevator Solutions ("Vantage"), a leading North American designer, manufacturer and distributor of elevator components and systems. As part of the transaction, Vantage's current owner, Golden Gate Capital, will retain a significant minority ownership stake in the company. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. Vantage is a leading North American elevator component manufacturer, providing a broad portfolio of parts and components...

October 13, 2021
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12Oct

WTW and Qontigo launch climate transition indices

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and Qontigo have announced the launch of the STOXX WTW Climate Transition Indices (CTI), which utilise a new methodology to quantify the impact of a Paris-aligned climate transition on equity valuations. The CTI are expected to help investors, governments and companies to manage the risk and opportunities in their portfolios, looking "beyond carbon emissions” with a forward-looking, bottom-up evaluation of transition risk and opportunity for each company. The proprietary Climate Transition Value at Risk (CTVaR) measure analyses...

October 12, 2021
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September 2021
30Sep

Pension fund and other investors with $4 trln assets aim to tackle Asian firms on climate change goals

A group of six investors with a combined $4 trillion of assets under management, including Fidelity International, said on Wednesday it aims to step up engagement with big Asian companies like banks and energy producers to ensure they have a road map to meet climate change targets. Initial engagement will focus on carbon risk and coal at banks and coal-exposed power companies, the group of investors, facilitated by Singapore-based advisor Asia Research & Engagement (ARE), said in a statement. The move...

September 30, 2021
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