January 2025
13Jan

PensionBee Launches New Climate Plan to Help Customers Invest in Line With the Paris Agreement Goals

PensionBee, a leader in the consumer retirement market, has launched its new Climate Plan that sets a clear standard for climate-focused pensions. This plan not only excludes fossil fuel producers but also commits to continually reducing the total intensity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by companies in the plan by 10% annually. So, even if the global economy uses more carbon over time, the Climate Plan will move in the opposite direction, always using less. Building on the success of...

January 13, 2025
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13Jan

US. Could climate change cost pensions 44 per cent?

Climate change is a complex financial risk. Its immediate impact on weather patterns and the various societal responses to a changing climate will influence GDP growth, inflation and ultimately, financial markets. An inaugural climate report released by Ortec Finance has found that Canadian pension funds are among the funds most vulnerable to climate change, second only to US pensions. Climate risk specialist at Ortec and author of the report Doruk Onal says Canadian pension funds are expected to experience profound...

January 13, 2025
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10Jan

Sustainable Investing

By Lubos Pastor, Robert F. Stambaugh & Lucian A. Taylor We review the literature on sustainable investing, focusing on financial effects. First, we examine the effects of investor tastes on portfolio tilts and asset prices in a simple equilibrium setting. We establish novel connections, including a direct relation between the green portfolio tilt and the greenium. We also relate our framework to prior modeling of divestment. Finally, we review evidence related to the main concepts from our theoretical analysis, including the greenium, green...

January 10, 2025
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10Jan

As US banks leave net-zero, are Canadian banks close behind?

  Canada’s largest banks are reconsidering their involvement in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), as reported by BNN Bloomberg. The alliance, established to promote climate financing, has recently faced several high-profile departures. US banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase have withdrawn, citing increased Republican criticism of ‘woke’ capitalism and doubts about the effectiveness of voluntary measures in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Bank of Montreal (BMO), two of...

January 10, 2025
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09Jan

US. Time to act: The role of pension trustees in reaching net zero

Asset owners, business leaders and pensions funds collectively hold the power to put the global economy on a sustainable footing. Pension funds are in a unique position of both vulnerability and strength: susceptible to the risks of an unsustainable future, but possessing the influence to promote positive outcomes. With just five years until the Paris Agreement’s 2030 deadline for halving carbon emissions, we face the possibility that we will fail to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (see below) and...

January 9, 2025
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07Jan

Sustainable finance is braced for its toughest year yet

Before most investors had even returned to the office after the Christmas break last week, it became clear that sustainable finance is in for another rough year. On Thursday, Morgan Stanley became the latest big name to abandon the private sector’s main climate group, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). GFANZ, as it’s more commonly known, was set up to help its 700+ members work out how to develop the right targets, accounting metrics and investment strategies to achieve...

January 7, 2025
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December 2024
13Dec

The Economics of Net Zero Banking

By Adair Morse & Parinitha R. Sastry Banks have voluntarily committed to align their lending portfolios with a net zero path toward a decarbonized economy. In this review, we explore the economic channels for why portfolio decarbonization might be consistent with lender profit maximization. We frame the question by positing that net zero lending may create differential value through the channels of risk and returns, where return topics span profit margins and lending book growth arguments. We then use the lens of...

December 13, 2024
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12Dec

How climate change will impact pension fund investment portfolios

Failure to transition to a low-carbon economy could cost pension schemes up to 30% in investment losses by 2050, according to new research. Analytics and risk management firm Ortec Finance analysed the investment portfolios of 30 large UK pension schemes based on exposure to climate change risks. It modelled seven different scenarios for the global transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, and found that real estate and listed equities were the most vulnerable asset classes if any...

December 12, 2024
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03Dec

Half of US pension returns at risk of climate change wipeout

By Mona Dohle   UK institutional investors are closely examining their transatlantic counterparts amid ongoing discussions about whether the so-called Maple 8 Model could be replicated in the UK to attract private investment in the country’s ailing infrastructure. However, the combination of a home bias alongside a relatively higher allocation to alternatives are precisely the factors that leave pension funds more vulnerable to potential climate risks, according to new research by Ortec Finance, a Dutch climate risk modelling firm. North American and Canadian pension funds find...

December 3, 2024
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November 2024
29Nov

Megatrends and the Future of Social Protection

By Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Ageing populations, changing labour markets, and climate change are affecting economies and societies across OECD countries. What challenges do these “megatrends” pose for social protection systems? What are the implications of these trends for the coverage, the effectiveness, and – critically – the funding of social protection today and tomorrow? With an eye towards informing future reforms, this report presents a broad stocktaking of population ageing, changing patterns of labour supply, new and emerging...

November 29, 2024
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