March 2024

The anti-ESG backlash is playing out across the US as pensions and investments become a political football

After years of headlines about the growing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement in investing, ESG has been met with understandable skepticism from taxpayers, who both underwrite state and local government pension plans and government borrowing. After all, if the managers of these operations take their focus off properly balancing risk and return–pursuing ideological investment goals instead–taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions in additional liabilities. Yet, that focus must go in both directions. Forcing those...

Pension funds’ role in Brazil’s farmland controversy

Global pension funds are implicated in the deforestation of Brazil's Cerrado, impacting local communities and climate goals. In short: Armed men, allegedly hired by land claimants, have forcibly displaced local communities in Brazil's Cerrado, destroying homes and livelihoods. Major global pension funds, including TIAA, have invested billions in Brazilian farmland, contributing to deforestation and land conflicts. The destruction of the Cerrado, a key carbon sink and biodiversity hotspot, poses significant challenges to Brazil's climate commitments and local ecosystems. Key quote: “There’s a...

February 2024

UK. Pioneering Responsible Investment: How Pension Schemes Lead with ESG Initiatives

In an era where environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are becoming paramount in investment decisions, pension schemes and asset managers are taking significant strides towards responsible investing. Notable entities like Scottish Widows, Railpen, Nest, AXA Investment Managers, Franklin Templeton, and Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) are setting benchmarks by emphasizing initiatives that not only foster financial returns but also contribute positively to society and the environment. Championing Social Factors in Investments Scottish Widows has made headlines by focusing on...

Investors trying to change the world: Why climate investing is so difficult

Responsible asset owners are preparing their portfolios for the climate transition, reducing holdings in companies with high emissions and pledging billions to climate investments. But climate proofing portfolios is proving one of the most arduous and complex challenges investors have ever faced. Like concerns that many of the underlying companies in their portfolios haven’t meaningfully reduced their emissions; or the fact investors know they need to continue to provide capital to hard to abate sectors yet the financial rewards for...

UK. TPR urges trustees to ‘take stock’ of wider ESG factors

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has urged pension trustees to "take stock" and think about further developing their approach to managing wider environmental social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities. In a blog post, TPR climate and sustainability lead, Mark Hill, noted that ESG disclosure reporting requirements have expanded, suggesting that this is a trend that looks set to continue as practices around wider sustainability factors, such as nature and social, develop. Whilst Hill acknowledged that climate reporting will already be business...

US. New York pension fund to divest some Exxon holdings

The New York State Common Retirement Fund will restrict its investments in eight integrated oil and gas companies, including the divestment of a small share of its holdings in Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who oversees retirement assets, said on Thursday. The move follows a review of the companies' readiness to transition to a low-carbon economy, DiNapoli said in a statement. The move amounts to a compromise measure by the third-largest U.S. state pension fund as it and...

US. Sustainable investing has bright future, Morningstar exec says

Sustainable investing has a bright future, as younger generations and those with long-term investing goals, such as pension funds, have expressed interest in it, Morningstar Indexes' head of ESG strategy said at the Exchange ETF conference in Miami Beach, Fla., on Feb. 13. "There's no reason to expect systematic underperformance from sustainable investments, and there's some reason to believe you might be able to get some marginal long-term benefits out of it," Morningstar Indexes' Thomas Kuh said at a panel...

Climate Polarization and Green Investment

By Anders Anderson & David T. Robinson We build a nationally representative sample of retirement savers in Sweden to study how asymmetric updating of beliefs about climate change affects investment decisions. After the intense heat wave of 2018, respondents in regions dominated by a right-wing, anti-climate party grow less concerned about climate change, while respondents outside these regions grow more concerned. Those growing more concerned rebalance their retirement portfolios toward climate-friendly mutual funds; those growing less concerned rebalance out of...

January 2024

Asset Manager, Pension Fund & ESG

By René Maatman & Kleis Broekhuizen  When it comes to sustainability, much is expected of pension funds. Of course, they must ensure value-proof pensions. They are also expected to contribute to the environment, climate, human rights, social justice, and corporate governance. ESG must be factored into investment policy. But how and to what extent? There are varying preferences within the population of pension participants. Politicians, action groups and NGOs have their own beliefs. Pension fund boards must make complex trade-offs. How...

Sustainable Finance and ESG: From Policy Concerns to Transformative Tools

By Peer C. Zumbansen  This article provides an in-depth summary of the inaugural Fall conference on ESG and Sustainable Finance at McGill University, November 2023. The conference was hosted by the SGI CIBC Office for Sustainable Finance (OSF) and the Business Law Platform at McGill’s Faculty of Law. OSF was established under the auspices of McGill’s Sustainable Growth Initiative, a cross-departmental research and collaboration platform committed to cutting-edge scholarship and training on sustainable finance, decarbonisation, green mobility, climate change and...