October 2021

India’s pension system needs impetus to ensure adequate retirement income: study

India needs to undertake strategic reforms to revamp the pension system so as to ensure adequate retirement income, revealed the 2021 Mercer CFA Global Pension Index survey (MCGPI) released on Tuesday. The Indian pension system ranked 40th on the overall index ranking out of 43 systems and had the lowest rank in the adequacy sub-index. The primary objective of this annual survey by Mercer Consulting, a leading global management consulting firm, is to benchmark each retirement income system using more...

Irish pensions system at risk, new study says

The €5 hike in the State pension in last week’s budget, along with delays in increasing retirement age and introducing automatic enrolment into savings plans, all threaten the sustainability of the pensions system over the long term, according to a new study. The Mercer study points to considerable future challenges as the population ages due to the topping up of what is described as a “generous” pensions system, and a failure to address core issues. Also adding to the problem is...

Pensions and ESG: An Institutional and Historical Perspective

By P. Brett Hammond & Amy O'Brien Sustainable investing is growing into its moment. Funded pensions, which were among the first institutions to respond to sustainability concerns, are showing renewed interest in better ways to reflect responsible investing objectives, along with regulators, asset managers and shareholder groups. Looking back, the principal elements of sustainability—environmental, social and governance (ESG)—all have different origins and took different pathways. Looking across, sustainable investing developed differently depending on region and country. Viewing it today, we...

U.S. Labor Department proposes counter rule to Trump-era investment measures

The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday proposed a rule aimed to override a pair of Trump-era measures that had barred retirement and pension plans from considering climate change and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when they select investments. Read also U.S. Labor Department proposes counter rule to Trump-era investment measures The DOL proposal, which is subject to a 60-comment period before it can be adopted, comes after the agency in March said it would not enforce the 2020...

Principios ESG y Cadena de Valor: del Reporting al Impacto Social

Por Cátedra de Impacto Social, Comillas ICADE, Open Value Fundation, Repsol Fundación & Managenet Solutions El propósito de las empresas ¿Para qué existen las empresas? ¿Cuál es su finalidad? ¿Cuál es realmente el elemento esencial que vertebra y determina la actividad empresarial? Todas estas cuestiones, hacen referencia al propósito empresarial. Este concepto va más allá de las misiones y visiones, recursos utilizados actualmente como elementos clave que orientan las estrategias de las compañías y que pretenden dar respuesta a los...

U.K. pensions will be greener and DC plans more consolidated, minister says

U.K. pension funds are on a journey to be "safer, better and greener," and defined contribution plans are headed for consolidation, U.K. Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion Guy Opperman said Tuesday at the P&I World Pension Summit in The Hague. Last year, the U.K. was the first G-7 country to commit to mandatory climate disclosures under the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, and pension funds will have to disclose how climate change impacts their investment portfolios as part...

Sustainable investment ‘rebooting’ Europe’s private markets, research finds

The rise in demand for sustainable investments is driving a “structural reboot” of private market investing in Europe, with environmental, social and governance funds on track to account for up to two-fifths of the industry’s assets in just a few years. According to research from PwC, ESG private market assets could hit between €775.7bn and €1.2tn by 2025, up from €253bn in 2020, as regulation and client demand force an overhaul of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt...

AFM: Dutch pension funds urged to speed up SFDR implementation

Dutch pension funds must speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), according to financial market regulator AFM. But for the time being, compliance will not yet rigidly be enforced, said AFM director Laura van Geest. “The pension sector is less far in implementing the SFDR than the asset management sector since many pension funds have chosen to [temporarily] opt-out of the SFDR,” Van Geest said, speaking at the annual congress of trade publication Pensioen Pro. Most of...

Sustainability agreements and antitrust – three criteria to distinguish beneficial cooperation from greenwashing

By Maurits Dolmans This paper discusses European competition law as it applies to agreements between market players to reduce, eliminate, or compensate for greenhouse gas emissions. It places these in an economic context, discusses the relevant provisions of the European treaties and applicable case law of the European Court of Justice. It identifies three broad criteria for the non-application of the prohibition of restrictive agreements, or exemption, to sustainability agreements. Source: SSRN 443 views

Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting

By Daniel C. Esty, Todd Cort Sustainable investing is a rapidly growing and evolving field. With investors expressing ever greater interest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics and reporting, companies face a sustainability imperative and the need to remake their business models to respond to an array of pressing issues including climate change, air and water pollution, racial justice, workplace diversity, economic inequality, privacy, corporate integrity, and good governance. From equities to fixed income and from private equity to...